Ironman Mont-Tremblant 2019 Recap
Hello! I’ve been spending the past few days just completely relaxed and loose, away from any major screen time, which was nice! A much needed break!
I'm going to put my thoughts/what happened on race day below :)
Swim: We all know swimming has never been my forte, and I just wanted to stay mid-pack ish without wasting too much energy. Stayed to the right of the buoys (except for when I needed to turn and keep those buoys on my right shoulder) where there were fewer people so that I could just stay in a rhythm as much as possible. The lake was enjoyable, no real drama here.
** I will say though that I would like to get faster in the swim - at least get closer to 1 hour here, eventually; not sure what it would take to get there, but I def need to work on this.
Bike: My god, my favorite part. I almost wished it wouldn't end. Funny how even when I was racing by "feel" it was still roughly ~190-200w on the flats. Tried to get over those lumps as fast as I could. All the pros never left aero. I stopped 3x - literally full stop - to refill my 3 bottles & load em with my Skratch mix; I figured it was worth the investment. Lost a couple of tubes of mix before the last refill, so had to switch to on course Base Electrolytes for the last 1.5-2 bottles of the ride (~90 minutes) - that tasted so bad! It was like perfume water - ick, GROSS.
Run: I need to get faster. I was really chill & calm during the first 6 miles out. Strangely at around mile 8 my whole body (especially my forearms + ring and pinky fingers on both hands) went numb, and I felt extremely dizzy. I did my best to truck along, but def wondered when I was going to pass out. Didn't feel like I was running straight, and kicked myself for not taking a vial of base salt when I ran past them within the first 2-3 miles of the run. I finished a 24 fl oz bottle of Skratch within the first 7 miles, but felt so full after that it was hard for me to ingest more. But because I was so dizzy I decided to force myself to take sips of my 2nd bottle full of mix. By mile 14 I was nauseous and felt like I would vomit, also felt almost like I was going to insta-shit myself if I took in anything so stopped trying to drink. Made a pact with myself to only go to the porta if it happened to be empty, and kept passing occupied ones until finally at around mile 17(?) some chick darted out of one on the other side of the run course. I immediately pulled in, shut the door, held on for dear life since I was soooo woozy & executed a rocket shit. The rest of the run was much more bearable after that - but I decided to switch to water and salt from then on. Oof those miles felt extremely slow and long. It was so funny - I was so numb in my hands and arms that I couldn't carry my water bottle with one hand anymore, let alone raise an arm to high 5 my friends as we passed each on course from mile 13 onward. So yes, I ended up running with both hands on the bottle here and there - I think it may have even been captured as I finished. Who knows - everything was all a blur and I felt so nauseous for so long after finishing too. Eating was so painful on the mouth, post-race; too many textures!
Overall: Very happy with the race! It was such a great course, well organized, FUN w/ friends, perfect day..! 10:28 finish def = a new PR, and I'd argue that this course was harder than IM Louisville, so I'll take that 16 minutes shave off with pride! A huge thank you to my coaches who helped me prep for this race and for getting me to where I am now! Lots of work still to do with the swim and run especially (…what’s new here), but progress is progress and I'm extremely excited for what I'll be able to deliver next year with consistent training. Extremely fueled to take the top step of an Ironman sooner than later - the quest for Kona continues :)
