Ironman Canada (Penticton) 2011 Race Report
Updated: Dec 9, 2018
Overall, I believe this was a good race, although the outcome wasn’t as good as I had hoped.
The swim was tough, and I’m glad I PR’d. It was a battle from beginning to end. I found feet when I could, and exited the water with more purpose than CDA.
T1 time was better, but could easily be faster.
Bike was right on target. I wish I had the file, but I didn’t have my Garmin mounted on the bike and the watch unit didn’t seem to record. I’m pretty sure I hit the stop button instead of the lap
button. Nevertheless, I did exactly what I should do, rode VERY conservatively at thebeginning, coasted when I either hit 25 MPH or when I was going to get there, and didn’t use the brakes much. The climbs weren’t hard…I could’ve gone MUCH harder, but was keeping the watts @ 190-230’s. I felt that I only really burned 2 matches on the bike, one during the first steady state ride between Richter and Yellow when I was trying to pull away and bridge to a faster group, and the second when I was having to pedal during the headwind into town and was trying to bridge to another group.
T2 was good…2 minutes and change.
The run was PERFECT until mile 13, when the spasms started, but until then, I was having a nice conversation, keeping the breathing steady and easy, and using the Garmin as a governor to go slow. I was looking forward to mile 18 when I was going to put on the heat, and although I honestly felt that at around 20 it was going to get hard (as it did in CDA), if it wasn’t for the spasms, it seemed good. The nice thing about IMC is that the last miles into town are a gentle downhill, and I was trying to take that into account on the way out, so that I’d have something in the take to accelerate towards the end.
Overall, I was pleased with my performance, and I hope to have a repeat of it, excluding the turnaround, next year. The nutrition was pretty good as well. No stomach issues. I’m real happy about it.