Ironman Mont Tremblant

Friday, August 31, 2012

IMMT - After Thoughts

You will remain the same person, before, during and after the race. 
So the result, no matter how important, will not define you.
The journey is what matters. ~ Chrissie W

It seems like a life time ago that I was hemming and hawing with Lisa (my training buddy) about which race to do.  There was the good old Ironman Lake Placid which both my brothers had done.  There were the new Ironman New York and Mont-Tremblant.  I've never been to either Lake Placid or New York city and the thought of Tammy having to look after the kids for some 14 hours while I floundered on the course was a concern.  The scariest thing about IMMT was the course profile.  Everybody was talking about the scary 6 km hill with a 14% grade.  Where in the world could you train for those types of hills around Toronto?  I've been to Mont-Tremblant a couple of times so I knew it was pretty kid friendly ski resort and every thing looked fairly close to the race itself so last June, Lisa and I pulled the trigger and signed up.  

Later in September 2011, I fired my coach after Muskoka 70.3.  While I knew I could finish an Ironman with him, I wanted someone who was going to give me feedback and in January 2012, I started working with NRG Performance.  Just finishing an Ironman wasn't good enough.  I wanted a respectable time and wasn't afraid of doing the work.  Overall, I'm very happy I made the switch and would highly recommend working with my coach Fiona Gray at NRG.  She gave me the workouts and provided the feedback.  I truly believe that I would have not gotten the results if I stayed with my old coach.

The race and venue was incredible.  The town of Mont-Tremblant and Province of Quebec did an awesome job and spent a lot of money fixing the infrastructure.  After my training camp in June with NRG, I felt a lot more confident as everything was looking great.  I fear that it would be almost impossible to top the experience of my first Ironman.  One of the best things about IMMT was all the people that I knew up there:
    • Lisa (training buddy)
    • NRG
    • Ajax Pickering Tri Club
    • Markham Tri Club
    • Friends (Paul and Cathy S, Peter A, Scobie)
    • Blog buddies (Adena, Mandy and Doru)
    • Old friends from when my brothers raced 10 years ago (Paula, Ed W, Peter F)
I probably knew over 20 people either racing or spectating.  Oh yea, and my wife and kids.

Finishing an Ironman isn't that hard despite what you think.  In fact, baring any injuries or medical issues, I believe the average person can finish an Ironman.  In fact, Sister Madonna just finished Ironman Canada in 16:39 last week.  She's an 80 year old nun!!!  If you do the workout, you can finish.  An interesting observation when I look at my schedule (and what others have told me), your Monday-Friday training schedule doesn't change all that much if you're training for a sprint, Olympic, half Ironman, or full Ironman distance race.  For the half and full Ironman, I had extra workouts a couple of days a week.  Where the biggest difference comes in is the weekend for your long ride and long run.  Saturday rides of 6-7 hours with 30 minute bricks and Sundays with three hour runs (I never did as I was too hurt) is where all the hours add up.  I averaged about 15 hours a week and my longest was 21.3 hours.  My longest swim was 4 km.  My longest bike ride was 183 km (got lost) and my longest run was 20.5 km (I suffered on the second loop of the run at IMMT).  It really isn't that hard to finish an Ironman.  However, to race an Ironman is a whole different story........

So what's ahead for this year and next year?  I toyed with the idea of Muskoka 70.3 on Sept 8th but my first swim back this week told me that wasn't a good idea.  I'm still tired and the race would have been a disaster not to mention the expense (after spending several thousands of dollars at Mont-Tremblant and Montreal). I'm thinking about running the Scotia Half Marathon in October but I need to do something.  For me, this is the most depressing time of the year as the days get shorter and the weight starts to climb. 

For next year, I've already signed up for Mont Tremblant 70.3 in June and will probably race another half Ironman (Rev 3 Cedar Point maybe) and in 2014 a full Ironman.  I beat one of my brother's time and I'm looking to beat my other brother's time.  I missed his time by five minutes.  Hopefully by then, my oldest brother will be interested in joining me after he learns how to swim

3 comments:

  1. I never looked at an ironman training plan, interesting how the m-f isnt any different then any other distance, looks alot more managable now

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  2. My biggest concern is the training time. Don't get me wrong. I would love to put in all the hours. I would just have to find a way to balance family time and work time. For me, the training time for a 70.3 fits well. Its the full that concerns me. I am surprised that the week day workouts are not much more of an impact than training for an Oly.

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  3. Your oldest brother will be able to do an ironman AFTER he learns how to swim,bike and can stay injury FREE on training runs!!

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