Ironman Muskoka 70.3 Race Report

September 13, 2009

Finish time:             7:09:53

Swim Time:              42:42

Bike Time:            3:35:18

Run Time:            2:41:45

Total climbing ~ 7000’  (general consensus from Slowtwitch)

Going into this race I was worried, I hadn’t trained nearly as hard as I had for Steelhead, a month and a half ago.  After a 6 hour drive to get there we discovered truly beautiful area of Northern Ontario.  Registration went smooth and shortly after we on our way to our hotel (about 45 minutes away).  That hotel was gorgeous and we decided to eat at the new restaurant on site, great choice!

Race morning we got to the race site at 6:45 and I decide to take the walk from the swim finish up to transition.  We were warned that it was going to be 300 meters, but damn, it was all uphill!!!  Oh, oh this isn’t boding well and the race hasn’t even started.  There was no problem setting up transition so I took my time and got down to the swim start around 7:30.  I hope in the lake and felt good in my wetsuit and thought it was going to be a gorgeous swim.  Water clarity was great and there was kelp-like seaweed so it gave us something to look at as we were swimming.  Overall not a really fast swim, but solid and I felt good about it.  A cool feature of this race was the use of wetsuit strippers.  Really made that part so easy (who’d want to run 400 meters in their wetsuit anyways?)

Bike, well what can I say here.  It was hell, torture, pain, beautiful, tough, and I LOVED/hated it!!!!  A little long at roughly 59 miles with 4600’ of climbing according to my GPS.  I had heard to be careful to restrain yourself early because the last 20k were brutal.  After the second monster climb I was in survival mode and just didn’t care about saving energy, it was enough trying to get to the top of the hills!!!  Bike nutrition continues to be an issue.  I just didn’t take in enough calories.  I had about 6 bottles of Gatorade, 2 powerbars, and about 4 gels.  The design of the course was such that if you weren’t climbing you were descending – I really doubt there was a 1 mile stretch of flat road throughout the entire course.  I did learn that if you hit 44 mph AND you have to go back up the same hill it is gonna hurt!!!!!  At roughly the 40 mile mark there were just some extremely brutal hills.  One thing I’ve got to find is a gradient chart for this course.  I can’t believe some of those ascents weren’t at 10-15%.  I’ve never in my life had to groan and scream to make it up the hill.  I hit my threshold a couple of times and had real concerns about finishing the bike, let alone doing any running after.  I’ve never seen a comparisons of the 70.3 bike courses but I’d love to see where this rates.  I will say I knew my predications were  way off when I heard the pros saying the were hoping for 2:30-2:40.  I still haven’t found gradients listed anywhere but have read a consensus that the hill just outside of Dorset was @ 20%.  I remember seeing that and thinking oh **** but it was short and you maintained momentum from a slight downhill so it wasn’t too bad.

Coming into T2 I was seriously doubting my ability to finish.  I felt horrible and from what I’ve been told I looked miserable.  I made the decision to give it at least a couple of miles before I’d consider DNFing – had to see how the run would go.  I’d spent the last two months working on my run and I was hoping for a solid showing here.  Well, I got the first ½ - ¾ mile in and then we started climbing up a hill.  I started cramping as I was trying to climb so I made the decision that I’d walk up the steep part of the hills and the aid stations and run everything else.  At the 5k mark I was feeling good and I was hoping I’d be feeling just as good at the 10k mark and then I’d be thinking about running this whole ½ (well, not the hills but everything else!)  Hit the 10k mark and I started to get a smile on my face, it was a beautiful day for a run!  When I got to the turn around I told the volunteers “I may not be fast but I’m feeling strong" and thought to myself I should be able to negative split this run.  My average pace at that point was 12:40/miles.  The majority of the run to this point was uphill so that allowed me some great stretches of sub 10/miles.  Ironically around mile 69 I meet up with a guy who had Boston Qualified this year and lives about 5 miles from my house – what a small world these triathlons are!!!!!!!  I had hopes of doing 9 minute/miles for the last 5k but the hills prevented that.  I still brought my overall pace down to 12:24 for the ½ marathon.

The finish line was great.  We ran by the transition zone and the crowd was still there!!!  Man did we all need to hear/see them cheering us on, a very cool experience.  You make it around the transition zone and into the finishing chute.  They had girls there so that everyone across could break the tape.  I did that whole finish with a huge smile on my face (at least it was there in my heart).  I didn’t care that I was over 7 hours, after frying myself on the bike I and a HARD run I still managed to take off 20 minutes of my run time.

Thoughts on Muskako 70.3:  Great race.  Incredible volunteers all the way throughout the entire event.  There were crowds and people cheering the entire way.  Even when I had to walk up my one hill there was an older woman cheering me on (and man did I feel stupid/bad at that point).  If you want a CHALLENGE then do the race.  Suggestion for training: find the biggest hills around where you live and hit them over, and over, and over!

 
Thanks for the read and the support guys!!!  I'll admit when I was thinking I couldn't do it, having to confess it to you guys kept me going.  Couldn't let the group down.
--Dan

Great job Dan!  That course sounds like Wildflower.  You're just crying at the end of the bike at every new hill (mountain) you come to!  "PLEASE NO MORE CLIMBING!"  heh heh.   It's tough courses like that you'll remember though.  IMCDA has some challenging hills too from what I understand so keep up that hill training!  

I'm doing the Redman 70.3 this weekend but it's in Oklahoma and last I checked there weren't many mountains in OK.  :)

See ya in June 2010 buddy.   Seems like that date can't get here soon enough!

Chad