I did a lot of biking leading up to this race since this is the area where I can still gain the most. My numbers have improved quite a bit since IM Los Cabos and I was confident that I will have a good race even on a hilly course such as Whistler. My Coach gave me my race plan but for Ironman there is normally nothing surprising in there since most of the effort is by HR. But it is interesting to see what the avg watts are for the bike. This time it was supposed to average 203 Watts. A good 10 watts higher than any Ironman before that. Since I want to qualify for Kona I have been thinking a lot about the race. I decided to not focus on competition and qualifying for Kona but rather have my best race possible. It is better to focus on things which are under my control, rather than depend on external factors. This is easier said than done since it is a competition.

15min before the start. Posing with Derek for a picture. As you can see I'm "relaxed" and happy...

From previous races I know that I perform the best when I am in control the whole time. Therefore I decided that for this race my personal goal is to be in control no matter what during the whole race.

Race preparation went really well, lots of rest and carb loading. Despite the fact that I slept 3h during the day on Saturday, I was still able to go to bed around 8pm. Race morning I wasn’t that nervous and I felt great.

Swim:

I started pretty much in the middle of the start line. My assumption was that most people would want to swim close to the buoy line. It was a little congested for the first few hundred meters but not too bad. But even after that it never cleared out and it was always too crowded for a long smooth stroke. I was constantly in contact with other swimmers around me. At the first turn around someone managed to pull of my goggles, which brought back memories from Ironman Couer d’alene where I panicked a little. This time I just swam for a couple more stroke with my goggles sideways over my face to get away from the turn buoy and than adjusted it. Thus preventing to get pulled under again.
I ended up swimming the first loop by myself. On the second loop I found some feet to draft. The person I was drafting wasn’t necessarily pushing me, but I was just about swimming the same speed on my own so I figured I might as well safe some energy. On the last straight (800m) some people started drafting of me and constantly hitting my feet. I wouldn’t mind the drafting but hitting the feet is annoying every other stroke is really annoying. I got out of the water in about 64min which is a new best for me. I was happy with the time but based on my 70.3 swims I was hoping for even more.
41st in AG and 245 Overall

T1:
I knew were my bag was but couldn’t run any faster to it because of all the other people around me. Even the changing tent was super crowded. I really need to become a faster swimmer 🙂 Putting everything on including arm warmers took slightly longer than I wanted.

Bike:

Nice view on the climb up to Callaghan

Shortly on the bike, Mark overtook me just outside of T2. This was a little surprise since he normally swims better than me. Well maybe my swim wasn’t all that bad. He was pushing a higher pace than I and I let him go. I was still focusing on getting my HR down and eating a powerbar. The first 10 miles were rolling hills and people were flying by me. It was very hard to stay with my pace and not get pulled into going faster. Once at the climb most people around me were going a similar pace and I even started overtaking some people. Except a few people with road bikes were sprinting up the hills. I would love to know how their day ended? On top of Callaghan I took time on how much my friends are ahead of me. Mark already had a lead of about 4 minutes. Joe and Dewayne also TN Multisport were about 2-3min ahead. But again not much to do for me besides following my pacing guidelines. I tried to push it a little on the downhill since I knew the course but I also wanted to stay safe with all the other riders out there. After the downhill it was rollers back into town at this point the field was more spread out and I was mostly riding by myself. The downhill to Pemberton was very fast with speeds over 70km/h. I was glad that this day wasn’t particularly windy. Once in Pemberton I knew that would be the most challenging part of the bike course since it is a very flat out and back, where I had to stay very aero. I was making good progress and was riding my numbers, but plenty of people passed by me. Among them was also Chris who was one spot in front of me at IM Los Cabos. As much as I wanted to stay with him, I decided to stick to the plan. (Remember stay in control). Shortly after that I overtook Joe which is in my age group and qualified for Kona the previous year. So I figured I’m not doing too bad.
Since it was an out and back I was able to see the pros and all the people ahead of me. Unfortunately, I also saw packs of up to 30 people in which some of the riders where just blatantly drafting. This always annoys me, I wished they would have more referees out there. At the end of the second pack was Mark, he was riding legal behind the group and was shaking his head, indicating that he was thinking the same I was. At that point Mark was 5min ahead of me, which meant that we were pretty much riding the same pace for big parts of the course. After the turnaround I also got caught in some packs and people were blatantly drafting in front or behind me. Not much I could do besides fall back behind the pack and wait till they move on.
Eventually, we came back to Pemberton which meant that the flat was over and we had to climb back into town. The drafters quickly fell back since at the hill drafting doesn’t help as much and I was overtaking many people. I also caught some of the faster riders I knew which overtook me on the flat. Even though my legs were getting tired I felt great. At one of the steeper climbs, when we were going very slow a referee came by and yelled at the riders for not falling back out of the drafting zone quickly enough. He even handed out some penalties. I wasn’t sure if I should laugh or cry. Where was he on the flats were it actually made a difference who cares if you are only 3 bike lengths back if you are going up a 10% grade with 10miles/h. Well since I was riding clear it didn’t affect me.
Over the duration of this ride I told myself many times to stay in control and follow my pacing guidelines to have the best race possible. Even though, I felt like I did a great job of pacing my bike I was looking forward to get off the bike and start the marathon. I finished the 112miles in 5h 27min which is the fastest Ironman bike split for me to date, and this on the hilliest course I have ridden so far. My pacing was spot on since I averaged the 203 Watts as planned. At the end of the bike I was 32nd position in my age group and 181st place overall.

T2:
This transition was quick, there was almost nobody in the changing tent. The volunteers were super nice helped me to get the stuff out and into my bag. I was in and out in no time. Lyset from (TN Multisport) was volunteering and did a perfect job on putting sunscreen on my back. At least one Ironman where I won’t sunburn my shoulders. Thanks!

Run:

About 5miles in I still have enough energy to show my guns 🙂

The goal was to start of with a 7min/mile and than run by heart rate. I felt great and had to control myself not to start off too fast. But I quickly realized it would be going to be a hard run because I noticed some hills which I didn’t remember from training camp. I quickly started to overtake people and was constantly moving forward I was making good progress but certainly was getting tired. On the out and back I saw how much I was behind Chris (~8min) and Mark (~5min). Around mile 10 is where I started to get tired. I told myself to stay in control! After the first loop I started to feel really tired and had a hard time to focus. The hills also got harder and harder. Around mile 14 I hit a rough patch. My stomach was sloshing and I told myself that I need to stay in control. If I wanted to have the best race, I knew I needed to fix this. So I took a salt tablet for the stomach and also the muscle cramping (which were tingling) in addition I also took a gel with 2x caffeine to hopefully stay focus. Even though I wait with walking till the very last moment I decided to walk the next aid station to get some coke and also some ice for my hat. I forced myself to only walk briefly at the aid stations and than to continue running. The only positive part was that even with my slow pace I was overtaking lots of people which probably just started their first loop. Less than 2 miles later on the slight downhill my mind and body came back. I felt in control again. Even though I was hurting, tired and my stomach was upset. My brain was full on again. I started pushing again so that my Hr would be in my race zone. It got harder and harder, but I would only walk aid stations and force myself to run the rest. At the out and back the distances between Chris, Mark and me were still about the same. I was running with a guy from my age group for the last couple miles. He overtook me when I had a rough patch and now I caught up with him and was leading again.

This is when I realized I would finish in sub 10 hours

The last 5miles back into town are slightly uphill and my quads were constantly twitching and almost cramping. It was very painful but I was in control and knew that I had to keep going. I told myself at that point that I would never do an Ironman again unless it was Kona. I really did not enjoy it anymore to be that uncomfortable. I used every aid station to get coke in and cool myself down. On the last aid station the guy from my age group I was running with didn’t stop and moved ahead. But I decided to walk to get coke and water to stay cool. After the aid station I tried to close in on him again, but he was running the same speed. Than once I finished the 2nd loop and went onto the litlle extra loop to the finish I was surprised of how many people I was running with were on their first loop and suddenly I was running alone. Except about 200yards ahead their was someone in a black/blue/yellow tri kit. No way, that was Mark. I was closing in on him, but he apparently was battling with another guy right there and I wasn’t able to close in on those two. I did the extra turns and run up the last hills, thinking all the pain will soon be over. On the slight downhill to the finish I told myself. “You are going to enjoy this one! For once I want to hear him say ‘You are an Ironman'”. Well once I was close enough to the finish and I saw the clock just on 9:59. I map a snap decision that I had a chance of finishing the race in under 10h. I started sprinting and made it in 9:59:44 through the finish. I was ecstatic! I finished the marathon in a time of 3:22:40 in 13th place in my age group and 79 overall.

Mark and I shortly after we finished. I thought I was smiling when taking this picture 🙂 (Thanks to TN Multisport for the picture)

After match:

I was tired and my legs were hurting, but I knew I had giving it all and was proud of the sub 10h finish. Prior to the race I told myself that I would be happy if I stayed in control and had a great race even if I wouldn’t qualify for Kona. But once I learned my placement and how many slots we had in our age group I was disappointed. Even more so after the roll down and awards ceremony. I started to question if I will ever be able to qualify. This race had 100 slots and sounded like the perfect chance to qualify. As it turns out many other thought the same and the field was one of the most competitive one I have ever raced in. The first 8th in my age group qualified directly one guy didn’t take his slot and it rolled down to 9th. So in the end I was 7.5min short of a Kona slot. Honestly, I don’t think I could have gone 7.5min faster that day. I think I had one of the best races in my life and that just wasn’t good enough.

I was really unhappy for a couple days and not sure if I should still keep trying to qualify for Kona. Eventually, I decided to try it for another year after all it is my dream and I knew it wouldn’t be easy. Otherwise, everybody would do it 🙂

Swim

Bike HR and Watts

Run HR and pace (Last 6miles are missing, because of file corruption. Stupid Garmin)

Result Website