IRONMAN 2007- Jenn Turner-
Penticton British Columbia I decided to do Ironman
Canada this year to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of this race. This would be my second time doing Ironman. Canada, and Ironman in general. My original goal was to qualify for Hawaii Ironman. however after a very busy year with my new clinic Moveo Sport and Rehabilitation Centre in North Vancouver and some unforeseen training interruptions this spring, my eventual goal was just to go as fast as I did last year; 11 hours, 10 minutes and 52 seconds. SWIM- 1:01:50A record smashing 2700 athletes were participating in the 25th Anniversary of Ironman
Canada and every single one of them started at the same time (with the exception of the 50 or so pros). It was a bit of a crazy start, arms, legs and bodies bashing everywhere. I tried to start near the front, but it didn’t make much of a difference as I was blocked in right away and had to settle into the pace of the bodies all around me. This was pretty much the case for the entire 4 kilometers as I worked to get around as many people as I could. I eventually exited the swim 2 minutes slower than last year and nervous to get on my bike as I had some pressure on myself to make up some time from last year. BIKE- 6:06:27I hastened my prep time in transition for the bike and hopped on my new shining beauty. Thanks to SPEED THEORY, one of my sponsors, and an amazing triathlon store in
Vancouver, I have a slick new Carbon Cervelo P3, so I was hoping that a new bike would help improve my cycling time. I knew that the first third of the bike was a bit easier and to remember to save my energy for the ensuing hills. I was a bit upset at some of the packs that passed me, and was hoping that those marshals on motorcycles were catching some of the freeloaders.. heck I could ride that fast on the back of a pack’s wheel as well.. but that’s not Ironman.. Ironman is about the isolation, the mental games with yourself, the will to keep going when it hurts and when all you want to do is stop. I knew from the start that no matter how fast I went, I was going to learn a LOT on Ironman day. ON the bike is where I saw my fan clubs- some devoted patients, my boyfriend, and friends! They all had
some great signs and sure did help me along the way. I couldn’t look like I was hurting in front of my fans, so I toughed it up as I climbed up Richter Pass and conquered the rollers out to Cawston. I was holding off the majority of other girls, but I was sure getting tired of being passed, a disadvantage to being a fast swimmer and slower biker. The dreaded out and back was still awful- and my most low point on the bike- and I am not sure if I will ever enjoy that section. I felt a bit better after that (the Smarties in my special needs bag helped a bit!) and then the killer wind hit on the way up to Yellow Lake pass, the final and most difficult ascent. I was a bit of a fair-weather rider this spring, resorting to my trainer whenever it was raining out, so I tried to not let the little sprinkling of rain we were getting on the bike get me down, but the wind was just killer! When I got to the top of yellow lake I looked at my watch and decided that if I didn’t stop pushing as hard as I could, I just might go under 6 hours. The ride back into Penticton is down hill and a nice fast ride, so my goal was not unrealistic. I noticed the view on the way back into town to, and realized how lucky I was to get to see this awesome scenery from a bike! I pulled in at a disapp
ointing 6 hours and 6 minutes.. actually SLOWER than last year. But I did have a significant lack of training this year, and I was happy enough to get off the bike and start
running! RUN 3:59:28I always look forward to the run, and this year was no exception. If anything, I HAD been running well all year in training and I knew I would pass a number of those girls that got me on the bike. I was wearing my well worn in PUMA Concinnity shoes that were super comfortable. This run started off on a worrisome note as I had a massive cramp in my ab muscles, something that I have dealt with in the past, from being flexed forward on the bike. I had to stretch and try different breathing techniques and hope that this cramp went away so I could do my thing. Sure enough, the cramp subsided
and off I went. Again, I started off on a pretty good pace and started to sorta keep track of my splits per mile. I train usually in kilometer pace so I knew I wanted to hold around 8-9 minutes per mile. I was mowing down on pretzels which were my lifesaver during that run- I was so hungry. As I got to the turn-around at 1:58 I was ready to feel a bit more pain on that long return intoPenticton. I started passing more and more people on the way back, and my mind separated from my body, and I just kept hitting the mile markers bang on feeling absolutely fan-tastic. Even at the rough patch where I fell apart mentally last year, I just kept on running strong. I think I learned the most about myself during the run. I am pretty hard on myself in general in many aspects of my life and it would be characteristic of me to be very unhappy with my performance if I was slower than last year.
However, I felt so proud of myself, and was so happy how I held it together mentally and physically during the race, when there were a few times that I thought I wouldn’t make it this year. Ironman Lesson Learned. that was worth everything. I was so proud of myself in the then and now moment of that race that I had to stifle back my tears- exercising for that long makes you a little crazy, and I had to laugh at myself at how I was slowing myself down by nearly crying!
THE FINISH 11:13:25
So I came to the downtown of the thousands of spectators- ran over my huge chalk sign that I apparently missed, although I don’t know how, and again, felt so tremendously proud of myself. When I saw the finishing line and the timing clock above, I thought for a tiny second that if the clock started with the pros then it was actually 15 minutes fast, but no such luck. I wasn’t going under 6 hours this year, however I was a mere 2 minutes slower than my time from last year, which
is pretty consistent.As it turned out, I ended up placing 7th in my age group (out of 77) and 457 overall of the 2700 competitors! I missed Hawaii by just one place… so it was a really bittersweet kind of race. I was totally happy to be able to go as fast as last year (especially after my BIGGEST supporter told me he thought I would be closer to 12 hours this year!!!). Although Ironman
Canada may not be on my schedule for next year, I am most certainly not through with Ironman!
