Ironman Mont Tremblant 70.3

I have had a very exciting few months leading up to this race. Training for Ironman has been time consuming, exhausting, painful, mentally challenging, and rewarding. I have PRed in the BAA 5K in April running a 27:05. I PRed in the half marathon at the Vermont City Marathon Relay by running a 2:10.21 which is 6 min faster than my previous PR. I have been working really hard to make sure that I am ready for the Lake Placid Ironman. I am obviously invested and training well because I am having mini-meltdowns about training and freaking out about biking and putting together a proper race day nutrition plan. As part of our training, Joe and I signed up for Ironman Mont Tremblant 70.3 after spending a couple days there last summer and not having a very good time training (that sounds like a ridiculous idea but welcome to my ridiculous life). The week before leaving, I had a difficult long ride where I got a flat, had a nice Canadian change it for me, and the last hour ended up being cold and wet. Actually it was so cold that I couldn't feel my hands or feet and a guy from the Rye Tri Club was so worried he got back to his car and was coming to get me! He found me at my car trying to get my bike back on the car. Then the next day my pedals broke. I had a new pair put on and my knee ended up bothering me. I have also been struggling with an ab strain that I just can't seem to get a handle on. I started to freak out about the race the entire week before the race. I was freaking out about even making the bike cut off at Ironman Lake Placid. I started thinking that maybe I was too hasty in signing up for an Ironman that was only a year and three months since my last cancer treatment - maybe I wasn't improving quickly enough for this very big event. 140.6 is very daunting to me - it was the first 2 times, and it continues to be now. We travel to Mont Tremblant on Friday. When we got there and went to check in, I noticed how fit and fast everyone looked. I started freaking out that I wasn't going to finish. (Welcome to my pre-Ironman jitters!!) My fears were not helped when I went for a run where I was passed by extremely fast people - men and women alike - and my knees were still really bothering me. Saturday, I ended up not feeling very well. My eyes hurt. My knees hurt. I was exhausted. I actually took 2 naps just because I was exhausted. Sunday, I woke up and was extremely nervous. I realized that I wanted to go into it with no expectations but I just can't figure out how to let go of my expectations and just have a great time out there. I am working harder than I have ever worked and I want my results to show how hard I am working. I had a mini-meltdown in a porta potty before putting my wetsuit on when they played "Beautiful Day" by U2 - all you Ironmen know how this song is important to Ironman starts. I was freaked out about the swim and the swim start - my first race swim of the season. I was trying to just calm down and just couldn't figure it out. Joe kept telling me "It is just a long training day." I tried to believe him. Then the swim went off! The swim started well. I had great lines to the bouys. The water was great. It wasn't choppy. I had space. Then it changed. The fast people in the wave behind me also had my great line and ran into me. I was catching the slower swimmers in front of me. The people around me couldn't figure out how to swim in a straight line. I was getting hit and grabbed. I would be fighting for space then try to pick up the pace, find some space and settle in, just to do it all again. I was surprised by how much contact there was in the swim. The swim felt like it took forever. 44:35 - not so bad. I was happy to be out of the water and heading to the bike. The Transition zone was sooooooo long but there were wetsuit peelers aka strippers - that made me happy. I just kept running after having been stripped of my wetsuit. The fun of this was hearing "Bravo" and "Allez! Allez! Allez!" from all of the French Canadian spectators. It was great! I ran by Joe's bike and noticed that he was already gone. This means that he swam pretty well and passed me in the water! He was probably one of the people who hit me! I thought "Go Joe Go!" When I got to my bike I put on tons of sunscreen because I knew it was not shaded at all on the highway that awaited me and it was extremely sunny! I ate a potato and headed out! I spent 7:05 running to transition and in transition. The bike goal was to feel comfortable the entire way, nail down some nutritional strategy, and feel like I could run off of the bike. I actually enjoyed the bike. I had gone for a ride on the course when we visited Mont Tremblant last August so I understood the different parts of the course and knew where I wanted to hold back and why. The first part was all about fueling and the last 15K was all about riding hills in an intelligent manner. I think I did that. I was happy on the bike the entire time. I fueled not exactly perfectly but I learned a lot about what I think I need to do and what needed to change. It wasn't my fastest 70.3 bike but it wasn't horrible either. I thought it was a reasonable course and enjoyed seeing everyone riding on the out-and-backs and loved the aid station volunteers - they were so excited and amazing! 3:59:29 was my final time. I would have liked it to be faster but I felt great after the bike so I think I succeeded. Transition was better this time. Again, I put sunscreen on because it was sunny and I really couldn't deal with sunburn. I ended up with a 3:38 T2. The run started and I was smiling and felt light on my feet. The spectators were excited about everyone! Mont Tremblant loves cheering for Ironman competitors. Immediately I was trying to find my pace. What I forgot was that we were in Canada and the race was measured in kilometers! I don't know my pace per kilometer and I couldn't do math at this stage in the race. I wanted to go out more slowly because I knew the first 5K was rolling hills and then it is slightly downhill to the end of the bike path and slightly uphill back to the old village and rolling hills the last 5K. I went out too fast. I had no idea how fast I was going. I was trying to figure out what pace I should have been running but, again, I couldn't do math. At 15K, I started to slow. I was just rolling along and felt fantastic. Then, I was just running and counting down the last 6K. The last 2 hills were extremely difficult but I pushed through them. I found Joe just before we entered the pedestrian village and I had nothing left. The downhill finish started right around there and the crowds yelling in French were amazing. The finish line was great. I finished to fireworks! I had no idea how fast my half marathon was at this point but I figured it out the next day - 2:17.16 which is just wonderful for me! My total time was 7:12.03. More importantly, I finished thinking that I am actually going to be able to finish Ironman. I also would love another attempt at this course. It is close to where I was in 2009 when I did my first Ironman and I think this course was more challenging than the course I did then and I was only a couple of seconds off of my time there. It was 6 min slower than my fastest 70.3 in 2010 but I felt better after this one than I did after the 2009 and 2010 70.3s. Which means I can get back to training more quickly than I was able to before. More importantly, I have improved in the swim, bike, and run since last August when I did Rev3 Main Old Orchard Beach. I took 27 min off of my overall time since then. Not bad for less than a year between the two events. I love that my body is improving every day. Mont Tremblant and Ironman put on a great event. It was phenomenal. When I found Joe at the end he was excited for me but then he told me his time (4:38)! This time was beyond what we expected from the day for him! It was a great surprise. The biggest surprise came when we found out he qualified for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in September back in Mont Tremblant. This made our weekend! I couldn't be more proud of my super speedy husband and all of his efforts. He is having a phenomenal year: Boston marathon (PR, re-qualified for 2015), 70.3 PR and qualification, next up Ironman Lake Placid, and then the 70.3 Ironman World Championships! This is an awesome, amazing and I am just so happy to be with him through it all!