My fiancé, Laura, and I arrived in Mont Tremblant on Thursday afternoon and checked into our motel – a great little place about 15 minutes outside of the village away from all the craziness. IM Mont Tremblant was my 2nd IM and Laura’s very first! Things went smoothly leading up to the race. We got in some easy workouts to keep the body loose and familiarized ourselves with the village, the start/finish area, transition, etc. We also scoped out a great place to park, so that we wouldn’t have to take the shuttle in from one of the far parking lots.
Before we knew it, race morning was upon us. We arrived in transition at about 5:45am and got to work prepping our bikes. There’s nothing like the buzz before an IM to get the butterflies churning, but we did our best to keep calm. We found a quiet spot to put on our wetsuits before making our way down to the swim start. After a 10 minute warm-up, I figured I was as ready as I could be and headed into the swim start corral, which was surprisingly tight. There must have been 500+ athletes in my wave, so the tiny little swim start area basically made the start just as crazy as a mass start – which is exactly what I thought IM was trying to eliminate by implementing the wave starts?!
The start of the swim was quite hectic and I just couldn’t seem to find any open water. I kept getting stuck behind slower swimmers and really struggled to settle in. About half-way through the swim, I did manage to find some space and started to feel better, minus the constant onslaught of boat waves that tossed you around. I hit land in 1:05:15 which was slower than I was hoping considering all the work I had put into really improving my swim. But my disappointment was short-lived as I started to make the run up to T1 through the throngs of screaming spectators…that was a really awesome moment and made the long run to T1 such a great experience.
After a decent 5:30 T1, I was onto the bike and out onto the beautifully smooth roads of Mont Tremblant. Overall, the ride went really well. It’s definitely a tough course with some solid hills. The hills and wind got tougher on the second 90k loop, but for the most part I rode well. I pushed in sections where I felt I could pick up some time and didn’t overdo it on the super steep climbs on Chemin Duplessis. The best part of the bike course for me was riding the out and back section on rue de Saint Jovite. That little town was out in full force cheering everyone on and it really gave you a nice boost. I managed to finish the ride in 5:39:54 which is right around where I expected to be.
I felt good coming off the bike and was in and out of T2 in 2:21 to start what I knew was going to be a hot marathon. I was really worried about how the run would go. I injured my knee in mid-June and had done no real run training other than some easy 4 or 5k efforts in the last couple weeks before the race, so my run fitness was nowhere close to where it should have been. But, I figured I would give it everything I had and see how far that would take me.
The first 5 or 6k of the marathon is quite hilly with some steep climbs, so I started out at an easy pace. There was definitely no lack of sun out on the run course, so I made sure to hydrate well and grab ice or a sponge at every aid station. I kept a steady pace and hit the turnaround on the trail section of the course feeling pretty good. I managed to hold my pace until 22k where I decided to slow to a walk for the first time and eat the chips I put in my run special needs bag– regular Lays potato chips have never tasted so good! They were amazing salty goodness! From that point on, I ran two aid stations and then walked a little bit before running another two, and so on. I kept taking in water and coke along with the odd gel to maintain my energy.
The back half of the marathon got pretty tough as my feet (all soft and supple from the lack of run training) started to blister quite badly. But, I gritted through it and kept pushing towards the finish line. I thought I had a really good shot at going sub 11 hours, but in the end, I came up agonizingly short and finished in 11:01:16 with a 4:08:18 marathon that I was actually quite pleased with considering I hadn’t run more than 5k easy since June. I also managed to shave off 1 hour and 20 minutes from my 2010 IM Canada time, so I was really happy with that. I also tried to enjoy the finish a little more and just take it all in. The crowds in the last km or two were just incredible!
Throughout the race, I saw Laura out on course a few times, the last of which was at about the 40km mark of the marathon for me, which was about the 2k mark for her. She had a rough go on the bike and really needed to put down a decent marathon to make the finish line cut off. When I saw her run out of the village to start her second 21k loop, she asked me, “If I keep this pace, will I finish?” I did the quick math and said, “for sure…if you keep running like that, you’ll make it no problem!” And she did. Finishing my second IM and besting my IM Canada time by 80 minutes was amazing, but it was nothing compared to watching Laura fist pump her way down the finish chute with a huge grin on her face to become an Ironman in 16:08:18!! What a truly amazing experience and something that we will remember forever.
