Ironman Mont Tremblant – The Race That Shouldn’t Have Happened
This is Ken Morris`s race report from IM Mont Tremblant, he went 9:34 and was 3rd in his age group and is going to Kona for the second year in a row!
I never really intended to race Ironman Mont Tremblant when I signed up a year ago. It was meant to be a backup plan in case I didn’t get to Kona via Ironman Canada. Fortunately I made it to Kona last year and after racing on the big Island one thing had become clear: I really do love Ironman racing and training. That fact hasn’t always felt accurate, but the closer I get to stopping, the more that reality looms large for me. I am blessed with an abundance of spare time with an ultra supportive wife that makes getting the training necessary the norm and “easy” for me.
This year was my first as an official NRG Performance Training athlete. I have been going to camps with Nigel and Fiona ever since I started Triathlon and they have always stuck out as the type of athlete I wanted to be; Intense and focused with Kona always in their sights. I’d seen them training as a group on weekends for years and the appeal of company from like minded people while suffering through a 5 hour bike ride was absolutely what I needed to help me keep going through a summer of training. NRGPT have been there and done that. They have race day preparation like nothing I’ve seen before with details covering real world pacing, nutrition, equipment choices…they even tolerate and encourage my OCD like attention to bike aerodynamics.
This was the calmest I’ve ever been for an Ironman. It really helps knowing that you’re in the best shape of your life; it couldn’t be denied. Swim is faster, bike power higher and running…well, really it’s an Ironman, I’ve been relying on run speed I had four years ago. I really tried to embrace the truth that I do this for fun and do it to myself. I’ve been to Kona and that I didn’t intend to go again, so the pressure should be off. It helped that our hotel suite had a kitchenette so that Vanessa and I could buy groceries and not leave the hotel room. I didn’t venture out much on Thursday to Saturday giving my legs the ultimate break while watching HBOs Deadwood. Vanessa hung out with me as I managed to create the best race prep possible while at the same time the most boring actual vacation possible.
Race morning came and now the pressure came on, not quite the “run away and hide” mentality I normally have, but more of a:
“I wonder what people would say if I just don’t start?”
“Is ‘I don’t feel like it’ a good excuse?”
“I wasn’t really meant to do this race anyway.”
“My leg is sore and I don’t want to walk a marathon.”
I managed to get through my typical breakfast. 2am Boost, 3am Boost and 4am 2 Boosts. Once I get through the fourth Boost I start to feel better because consuming that many calories on a nervous stomach isn’t easy. One important thing to remember is that preparation really helps with the nerves; as I complete tasks important to a great race I really do feel more at ease.
I set out for transition only to realize I forgot the tape for my disc so had to climb the hill to get it. Try that again…oops I forgot my chip…climb the hill again. After a couple of false starts I made it to transition, pumped my tires and started my run watch, bike computer and dropped my run special needs bag. I keep things simple. The only item I had in my bags that I didn’t know if I was going to use was my arm warmers. I walked to the beach looking for friendly NRGPT members, who I found and we got ready for a warm up swim. The first gel of the day went down 15 minutes before the start. For some reason my gag reflex was particularly aggressive today as I almost hurled chocking it down. I went for a nice warm up swim; the water was fantastic cool, clear and calm; everything you’d want from an Ironman swim. The nerves were mostly gone it was just time to get the show on the road. A special moment was the pair of F18 jets flying over the pro men’s start. Goose bumps, Mont Tremblant does things right!
This year was a wave start for Mont Tremblant. As a not terribly fast swimmer I appreciate this, it’s just nicer to not have 2200 people all looking for the same piece of lake I’m in. I started well and the arms felt strong due to the longer warm up than I usually take. I swam quite straight and tried to get on some feet which worked well for about a third of the race. I started to get tired about the half way mark and settled into my typical thoughts of “this doesn’t matter, wait for the bike” and as a result took it very easy just getting to the end without expending any more energy than necessary. My major problem with swimming is no context of speed. Sometimes I feel fast, but am slow and vice versa. The time is always a surprise at the end! The 1:06 was a welcome sight, with the wave starts anytime I saw a clock I had to do math to figure out what it actually was saying. Regardless 1:06 was a good start.
It’s a long run to the bike at this Ironman. On the advice of Nigel I took in a gel while running to the transition tent; worked great. It’s also a long run with cleats to the bike. Next time I’d carry my shoes to the bike and put them on there. Out on the bike course I felt really good early which isn’t typical. I think this is even more confirmation that increased swim training doesn’t always show itself in the water. I really struggled to keep my watts under 240, and this was a problem as the plan called for 230w. I was flying and feeling great. It really wasn’t until about 100km that I started to feel at all tired. I really had to pee and it was stopping me from putting out the power I wanted. After three tries I managed to pee on a downhill while riding, this was slower than riding, but faster than stopping. It sounds insane but I have wanted to be able to do this for years and this was my first time. Pumped! A healthy washing of clean water and I was back to full power. Nutrition was typical: Gel every 18 minutes. It seemed to work well as I felt pretty good the whole day. I took significantly less salt than during training. I managed one salt stick tablet at 15 minutes, one more at 1:15 then two at 2:45 then no more. My quads felt on the verge of cramping but my gag reflex was high and I couldn’t get them down. Twice I had salt and water in my mount and ended up spitting it out rather than swallowing them. I was chewing through riders pretty quickly including some large packs that were trying to pace legally but weren’t doing a very good job of it. I didn’t feel the course was overly crowded, but I was in an early swim wave. Once more pee on the bike and I was about 40km from home. While I was passing two riders well within 20 seconds each a motorcycle official came up to me and waved a red card at me. I was shocked. I sat up to ask why and he told me I got too close to the second rider during my pass and should have been left of them further. This was a pull out and go maneuver, I was traveling much faster than the other riders and to get a penalty shook me. I tried to focus but then sat up again, contemplating throwing my garbage at him to incur another penalty I waved him back to chat more about it and at the end told him it must have been my mistake and carried on. Anger is a powerful force and I “floored” it for the final 35km. Something around 260w, definitely NOT in the race plan, this might make for an interesting run, but I got a nice 4 minute break in the penalty tent to eat, salt, drink and stretch…really not that bad. I still broke 5 hours which was cool despite having 4 minutes added on.
I came though T2 efficiently. Not fast, but with a purpose. I run with a fuel belt with water in it and contemplated getting rid of it as it was bouncing all over the place due to its stretched out age. I decided to deal with it as I find it important when taking salt tablets to have water on hand and don’t like to time everything to aid stations.
The first loop of the run was fantastic, gel every 20 minutes and about 6 salt caps. I took a couple of big chugs of water at every aid station. I got in a groove and it felt great. It was around 24km when the reality of Ironman set in and it was gut check time. I could feel my knee getting tight and I was willing myself to the gravel part of the course to get some relief. I made it, not without some serious cramping that needed quite a bit of salt to overcome. I started with a pattern of two salt, water and then the gel in order for things to not cramp up. I’ll have to remember this for next race. I really liked the gravel trail that 50% of the run was on. It helped take a lot of the impact out of the run and saved my weak leg so that it would get me to the end. At 9km to go I felt my foot injury happen that plagued me during the preparation for Kona last year, however, I was committed by then and knew I was having a good day! Just grind it out was the theme to get to the end, I was looking for 10km to go and the pace was slowing. You can slow down, but you cannot walk! You cannot walk! I did not walk at all, not one step. During the race I really had no idea what position I was in, but near the end I was passed by a guy in my AG flying!!! I tried to match his pace and immediately started to cramp up; enough of that junk…slow and steady will finish this race.
The race finish was awesome. Vanessa had been yelling that my chip wasn’t registering and that I had to go to Sportstats to get it re-registered to when I got to the end I went straight to Sportstats and had them read me my results and change the chip. Awesome, what a day!
After discussing this race with Vanessa, from an athletes’ and spectators perspective, this is the best race I’ve done between IM Lake Placid, IM Canada and IM Kona. It is the total package and fun for everyone, the course is great, the volunteers are great, the spectators are great and the venue feels like it was built for triathlon.
I’d like to thank the following people for helping me get to this level and help me train and stay motivated:
Vanessa. None of this happens without the love and support of my awesome wife. She understands what it takes to perform at a high level having done it herself for year. I love you, and will always appreciate the support and confidence you bring me.
Fiona Whitby and Nigel Gray. I thought last year was my peak but you both helped me push to an even higher level. You and your team are run so well, with so much commitment to the sport that the training is fun and your passion is contagious. I’ll never forget the awesome Saturday training sessions I participated in. I’m looking forward to more training next year even if it’s not for an IM.
Shannon, Joe, Brendan, JJ, Brian, Ed, Scott and all of the Saturday NRGPT athletes. Thanks for letting me become part of the group. I can’t wait to train and have fun during cross season!
Bob Britcher. My swim wouldn’t be where it is without you keeping me company while we get in the pool, my bike is better for having you to ride home from work with. I look forward to keeping these up!
Rob Wheeler. You helped me get through some long bike rides while you trained for your own epic adventure. It’s going to be fun to get back to riding just for riding soon.
Gary Wheeler. It’s always fun to hang out and chat about where we’ve been and where we’re going. I can’t wait to start the next chapter after Ironman, while remembering how much fun the current chapter is.
Sheldon Persad. You helped lay the foundation that I use today. I won’t forget that.
