Ironman Canada Race Report - Finale

When you've done enough of these darn things, you know there is about a 10-second window that you can look good to nail the finish photo, because before and after you look and feel like you just want it to end. Note the hard-working volunteers behind me, getting the finish banner ready for 7th-place pro female Lucy Smith.


So I blew the swim by wearing my Orca sleeveless, which is too tight in the legs and gives me cramps after about 2000m. I noted this in my training logs, (which are only helpful if you read them later), so that just proves that you are never to experienced to make stupid mistakes. I have DNFed 3x when using this suit, so I am going to cut it up and use it for tire patches. I could easily have blamed my swim on the shoulder injury from my bike crash in May, but honestly it felt fine, and I was doing great in the pool leading up to race day. Oh well, Ironman is never won in the swim, yada yada yada...



The bike went great. I was in Penticton for training camp in early July, and the wind was from the north the day we rode the course, so it rode exactly the same on race day, just cooler. I knew to make time with the tailwinds, and just hunker down and gut out the headwinds. My stomach wasn't feeling too good, probably chugged too much lake water during the swim, so I went with gels and water throughout the ride.



I got a bullshit blocking call on the Cawston out-and-back, (I stayed out to the left after passing a paceline that would have made Lance proud) but it only cost me about 30 seconds and gave me the opportunity to empty the dead bee out of my helmet. I caught back all the guys who passed me by the foot of Yellow Lakes. I topped with Greg Bradley, and we hammered hard back into town. I really drilled it down Main St to set an IMC bike PB, and second-best IM bike split.



During the first two miles of the run, I had leg and stomach cramps that had me well down the list of reasons to continue. (My dad being there was the kicker.) But my mile splits were sub-8, so I waited out the suicidal tendencies and by mile three, got dialled in and felt like I was going to be fine. The rest of the way, I had only one mile split over 8 minutes.I saw lots of familiar faces racing and spectating, so I drew energy from them and gave some back. Coach Kev came by a few times on a bike and told me I was having a great marathon. Him and Tom Evans were keeping Dave Matheson focused on a big AG win.



I ran by my old coach, Cal Zaryski of Critical Speed, at mile 16. He said, "10 miles to go Myles, the race starts here." I thought, how true, it all boils down to pacing, so that you are strong for the last 10 miles of 140. In Ironman, it's not necessarily who's the fastest, but who slows down the least at the end. So I didn't slow down.



I had to dig deep the last six miles or so, as fatigue was causing come cramping. I passed into seventh place in my AG in the last 1000m, and kept looking back to make sure he didn't have a better finishing kick. He didn't!



I crossed at 10:03:23, an IMC PB, and my second-fastest IM. I also had an Ironman marathon PB at 3:24:03, which was the second-fastest in my AG, slower only than the winner. So other than the swim, it was a really good day. Great battle in my age group, the 45-49, only six minutes between 2nd and 8th place. The winner, Anthony Frost, went 9:34:01, and missed breaking Bruce Burns' ten-year-old record by 21 seconds. Anthony won the 45-49 at the Apple (an Olympic-distance triathlon in Kelowna) the previous week, and was third overall there. When you can bring short-course speed to Ironman, you are going to kick some ass, as Anthony did. Very impressive.



My coach and a couple of tri-buddies who know my race history said this was my best Ironman, despite a quicker 9:53 at Ironman Arizona in 2006. IM AZ was a flat course and a calm day, so I would agree re: the bike and run, but the swim was a mental gaff that cost me 5-6 minutes. (My IM best swim is 1:08, ironically at IMC 2004.) So I would say, not an "A" race, but a "B+". However, considering I couldn't lift my left arm over my head in early May, I'm pretty happy with it!


At the awards dinner, our table consisted of Sara Gross (2nd female), Chris Brown (3rd male), Kyle Marcotte (6th male), Dave Matheson (1st, 35-39), Cat Brown (2nd, 25-29), Marty Heck (6th, 35-39), Kevin Cutjar (20+ Ironmans, many sub-9s) and me, the old guy bringing up the rear. I was surrounded by Subaru jackets as we wandered off to the after-party! It was a great capper to a really fun week. Congrats to all, and thanks to all the friendly faces who came out to cheer us on!