Ironman Mont Tremblant 70.3

The week before this race, I was pumped! I kept telling Joe "I'm ready now. Let's race now." I knew if I could hold a nutrition plan together somehow (I have had no success with nutrition during training lately), I would pull off something exciting for myself. I had faith in my abilities in all 3 disciplines and was excited to see what I could do. It was Ms. Jackson's (my bike) first race ever! The day before I felt like I was leaping out of my skin - I was so bored by the inability to be doing something since I was resting the legs after an easy 30 min ride. When race morning hit, I was ready to go. Unfortunately, transition opens at 6 and closed at 7:15 and my wave wasn't until 8:48. So there was a lot of just sitting around and casually eating breakfast - which on a normal day, I would be all over - but today, I wanted to go. Swim - The swim started and I knew this would be the coldest part of my day. The water temp was around 64. The air temp around us had already reached the low 70s by the start so it was going to be a hot one. I embraced the cool water. I found space almost immediately. I was on a perfect line. I was working hard but not outside of my ability level. There was a moment I thought I must have been way off course because no one was around me but I kept passing the bouys on the inside right next to them - one I actually hit with my arm. When I got toward the shore but still pretty far away from the beach, the water got super shallow. I kept swimming but some of the men from the waves behind me were standing up already. I kept sighting and didn't want to have to walk for longer than I had to in the water but finally I got a handful of dirt and decided it was time. I looked at my watch and got really excited 41:09! This is my best swim EVER! That excitement kept me going through the massively long transition run. When I entered transition, the first thing I did was eat a honey stinger waffle and take a salt cap - remember I was trying to have a perfect nutrition day! As I was shoving food in my face, I saw Joe running toward me. His goal was to get out of the water as I was getting out of the water - exactly 8 min faster than I had gone. I yelled "Joe Sullivan, I beat you." He just smiled and nodded. As I was leaving transition, he ran by me and said "I beat you out of transition though!" So obviously my transition times aren't as competitive as my husbands but I put on sunscreen and made sure I ate food so I was happy! The announcer said "And Team Loco is on the course!" I smiled and waved and the crowd got excited! Bike The bike started super fast. Due to the wave structure, I had a lot of 35 to 40 year old men overtaking me, in a very aggressive manner immediately. The first few miles are rolling hills and I wanted to get down a bottle of scratch in the first 45 min so that I could discard the bottle and get a new bottle of water. I wanted to carry as little weight as possible. I was so paranoid about other people passing me and not having their head up to see me and hitting me the entire way out to transition. There was also a moment when I thought - this course is harder than I remember. It kept getting hotter and hotter. At the turn around, I immediately noticed once thing - there was a headwind. How is that possible? I didn't get that much help from this large of a headwind on the way out. So, headwind - I had to mentally handle this one while going up a hill. I literally felt like this was the longest 28 - 36 miles I have ever ridden. Once I got to 36 though it started going faster - there were more people, we were headed toward town. The hills on the Duplessis were really hard - I may need a different rear cassette to get up those twice on Ironman day. Joe keeps telling me that I pushed hard on the bike before I got there so that is why they were harder. Yes, I did go a little outside of my comfort zone on the bike this time around but I wasn't all out. They are just hard. There was a crash on the other side of the road where they were still giving medical attention to the injured. People were coming down on the up side of the road to go around the crash - it was scary in so many ways. The people who were still there and being tended to looked afraid, lost, and confused. I could tell that this was a really bad crash based on the amount of sirens I heard going back and forth and the cars they had trying to get to these people on a 2 lane road while the race was still going on. I was looking for Joe and hoping he made it before this had happened. At this point medical attention was all over this road. It was hot. People were just laying in the bushes waiting for help or being attended to. I kept going - I just wanted off of this road now and off of my bike. To my surprise, I rode a 3:44.50! That is my fastest 56 mile bike split ever! I kept to my nutritional plan exactly and Ms. Jackson and I executed the plan well! T2 was quick - sunscreen, drink water, get shoes on, realize how hot it actually was out, and get out. Run The legs didn't exactly put up a huge fight until about 1k into the race when I had to get up a hill. My stride was too short while running so I walked it - it was more efficient. I was disappointed that this would potentially be my strategy - I wanted to run the whole thing - but my legs said different things at that moment. So the run was very repetitive in my mind - run to the aid station, walk the aid station taking in water, salt every 5K, coke, pouring water over my head, and putting ice down my tri top. Basically remain cool for another few min. There were a ton of aid stations. All they wanted was to make sure we finished. They were cheering "Bravo Kelly!" Just keep moving. I found a new friend Wendy out there and ran with her for a while - this was helpful as we were chatting a little and it distracted me. Then I met Sarah from Montreal - it was her first 70.3 and she had a few questions as we were running. This run hurt. At the end, I was on the verge of puking but I pushed forward. I remembered my coach telling me "You signed up for an Ironman not an Easyman." It was hot. If there wasn't that wind that I hated on the bike on the run course, then this would have been intolerable. I had been promised a margarita and guacamole after I was done with this race and I kept on going for the guacamole! I had anticipated on a good day averaging 31 to 31:30 for each 5K but with the heat I was maintaining 32:25ish. I was happy that I maintained that the entire way. I did walk the big hills and the aid stations but I was on a mission. They changed the course from 2014 and had us go all the way up the village on the cobblestones - that was evil. The run down to the finish from the top was pretty amazing though. "Allez! Allez! Bravo Kelly! Allons-y! Let's go!" I saw Joe just before the finish and he knew I had met my goal of being under 7 hours. There was a woman next to him who was screaming for me in French and I knew she asked something along the lines of "that's good?" and then she started cheering even louder! 2:19.05 - not my best here. I ran a 2:17.16 in 2014 but it wasn't as hot as it was this year. I finished in 6:55.56! I am thrilled that I put that day together on a day that was extremely challenging. Maybe I even found my nutrition plan! After the race, I wasn't completely sick and nauseous as I have been after my training rides so whatever changes I had made in my nutrition worked! I even got to see Lionel Sanders after the race waiting to get his award! I am thrilled with this result. I am a little worried about Ironman here as the course is tough but I still have 7.5 weeks to figure things out and I'm sure my coach will help me do that. I am so happy several members of my team were there with us and enjoyed the experience together.