IRONMAN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 70.3--Race Report

Syd, Ryan, Jan, Brian, Devon getting ready for race day in Clearwater 2010



Taking On Lake Placid 2010



Coming in off the bike in Clearwater

Getting to the finish line !!

And we are DONE !!!  4:53

A title successfully defended, new friends made and a season comes to an end.

The 2010 race season has been a long and interesting one for me, but it has definately been a great one.  My main focus for the year was the Ford Ironman USA in Lake Placid, with Syd in July.  The preparation for that was not as great as planned, but Syd and I managed to get through that race in 12:21 , which is not quite what we had hoped but still better then the possible DNS who faced.  Why face a possible "did not start"?  Well, Syd was beaten down pretty badly with a nasty head cold leading into the race, where he demonstrated a truly inspirational gutsy perfomance.  Despite feeling absolutely terrible, he gutted it out, and dragged my sorry butt across the line.  He showed great character that day, and a true commitment to me as his friend; I will forever be grateful for that day.

The rest of the 2010 season was filled with making new friends, as I did by joining Won with One and meeting the rest of the 12 other atlhetes on the team.  They are all a truly great bunch of guys and gals and I look forward to working with and racing with them in the 2011 season and beyond.
Myself and guide Pat took on Joe's Team Triathlon up in the Muskoka's at Lake Joe....WOW what a gorgeous race venue.

Next up, another new guide Todd and I took on the NYC triathlon, jsut one week prior to Lake Placid.  This race was once again truly spectacular in size and in execution.  New York City really can put on events, and this triathlon was no exception; it is always remarkable to see how they can figure a way for us to swim, bike, run in Manhatten...truly impressive.

The swim start in New York City Triathlon

The Swim Start

So, three races later and November approaches.  I had entered and won a lottery spot for the Paratriathlon division at the Ironman World Championships 70.3 in Clearwater FL.  There is currently no other way to get into this race as a PC athlete, other then the lottery spot; hopefully this will soon be addressed and fixed. 

Syd and I had done this race last year, and with a time of 4:43 I frankly didn't know if it could get too much better this year.  With Syd welcoming his new baby girl Ruby to the world just prior to Lake Placid, and myself moving to Ottawa and starting a new job, finding new friends and training places/partners; It was not an ideal build up.  However, we both loved the race and wanted to go back and just have some fun.  This time however, fellow Won with One athlete and new buddy Brian Cowie and his guide Devon would be racing against us.  Having these Canadian Paralympic Cyclists in the field makes for a scary bike ride....I'll explain in a bit.

SO--to avoid being too long winded, I'll try to layout the race day as best I can without getting too off track!

We all arrived on Wednesday at various parts of the day (myself, Syd, my wife Mindy, her friend Niki and Won with One manager Jan).  Brian and Devon had been down in Florida for a few days prior.

Before the race we did the usual:

-get bike from tribike transport

-get registered and pick up race packet

-walk around the expo with the bike, get lots of looks, questions and pictures taken

-get some free swag

-get more pictures taken

-go for a swim (not getting eaten by sharks)

-analyze how my swim stroke needs to be better

-eat and sit around a bunch

-go for a practice ride

-realize that bike is busted (derailleur cable)

Setting off on the bike. Syd where are your sunglsses!!?

-get cable fixed

-get hit by car

-go out to eat

WAIT! WHAT?! Oh ya, the car thing...well on our way back to the hotel from our ride, flying along at 45km/h with Brian and Devon on our tail, a car decides to pull in front of Syd and I. 

SKID, BUMP (fender off my leg), BAM (fender off the back tire), and we keep rolling.  Syd did a fantastic job of keeping the bike upright and us out of the hospital.  Brian and Devon kept their bike up too and after determining no damage to myself or the bike...we figured we'd just continue on our way.  Oh, and no the car didn't stop....but Devon got the license plate of the elderly driver.  I just hope it scared him enough to pay better attention next time.

Back to the checklist:

-more eating, chating, sleeping

-goto television interview

-get filmed running

-Brian gets filmed riding

-drop Big Al (the bike) and the bags off in transition

-more eating, a bit more stressing

-go to bed

-get up at 4:30am

-shove some food down the gullet, and get ready to rock.

I decided (on a cool suggestion from Syd) to put my wetsuit on halfway up for the short walk to transition in the morning.  It worked great at keeping me warm.  We got into transition and did all the usualy stuff, which really meant I stood there in the dark beside the bike while Syd pumped tires and reset computer, and then I told him it was time to find the portajohns....oh how i love the portajohns.  Actually they aren't that bad, you get used to them.  I won't go into the improvements in portajohn technology over the years, but they are much nicer/cleaner then in the past.

So, after "business" was taken care of, it was time to get the suit on and head to the swim start on the beach.

Standing beside the Gulf of Mexico at 6;30 in the morning, at a chilly 61 degrees, having the sun come up behind you, and hearing and barely being able to see the waves roll in....I must admit it was quite nice.  Anytime you stand beside an ocean (or Gulf) you feel so small.  The helicopter was now overhead and the race was about to start.  The paratriathletes were in the second wave, with the pro women, behind the pro men.

BOOM! went the canon at 6:48am to start our day.

Syd and I really didn't have a major time goal, we wanted to race against the other paratri's and hang onto the pro women as best we could.  Well that didn't last long.  With the combination of my slower swimming, the higher surf and Syd having a bit of trouble sighting...we found ourselves swimming alone...again:)

I am not afraid by the bigger surf, but it is something that I don't think i excel in.  Syd and others may think the surf wasn't even noticable, but I found it significant, but not overwhelming by any means. 

I had been working on my swim and was aiming for a sub 33 min 1900m swim, but with the swell and slight misdirection, I found myself out in 36min.  Not great, but I think many others had the same issues as Syd and I, so i didn't feel so bad about the time.

-run up the beach

-run through the showers

-get shoved to the ground by the wetsuit strippers (i love them)

-hop up and head to transition

-speed through T1 (for me anyways, this was a good T1)

-grab Big Al and we're off on the 90k bike

Last yeaer we were able to ride a 2:16 and average 40km/h, and that is exactly what we did this year, although it was a different ride for sure.  I found it windier this year, but nothing to noticable.

Seeing as Brian/Devon are such fantastic cyclists, my plan was to get as much time out of the water on them, then hold them off for as long as we could.  Syd and i figured they'd pass us, just not quite sure when.  There is a spot on the course at about 62k that is at the top of this very long causeway....this is my "get to" point.  I desperately wanted to get to the top of that causeway before we were caught.  At around 42km on an out/back section Syd informed me that he spotted Brian/Devon about 1.5km behind us.. CRAP!  I thought it was game over at that point, but without a word Syd and I started to slowly increae our steady effort and just waited for the pass.  Syd has never looked back on the tandem so many times during a ride....I knew he was as anxious about the pursuers as I was. 

"Where's the causeway Syd!?"

"Where is it?!!  Where are they?!"

Finally the causeway was in sight and as we started to climb Syd looked back one last time...

"I think i can see them back there...they are still quite a ways back though" he reassured me.

We made it to the top of the causeway!!  But we kept hammering. I had to make a decision I don't often have to in racing.  Do I keep hammering to stay away from them and risk blowing up entirely or do I ease up a bit and save it for the run?

At about the 75km mark I said to Syd "We are going to get caught and I still want to be able to run. Let's ease it back a smidge"

Syd looked back a few more times and the duo were right behind us...I turned my head and could just barely see their shadows, but they weren't passing us.. That is weird!

We started up this long climb and about half way up....WHAM! They dropped the hammer and flew past us like we were barely moving.  They got to the top of the hill and I instructed Syd to keep them in sight no matter what.

This pass came at 80km; a definate feather in our caps for holding them off that long...we were proud:)

We kept them in our sights (about 500m ahead) the rest of the ride.

-Get feet out of shoes

-Get to dismount

-Hand off bike

-Run towards gear bags

-Hey there's Brian/Devon

-Grab bags and head into tent, sit down

-Hey the boys are right beside us!

-Get our shoes on and head out, ahead of the boys, anther quick transition.

Bike split 2:16, Brian/Devon's bike split : 2:08 !!!

Off onto the uneventful 21km half marathon.  We had no specific time goal and if we pushed hard we may be able to beat last years time, but our main goal at that point was to hold our spot over Brian without blowing up.  I had a coulpe injuries coming in (foot and calves)..and didn't want to risk walking too much.  Our main goal was to not do any walking, which we managed to accomplish.  We cruised the entire run course (minus a 20 second stop to tie my shoe) and ran a 1:53 half marathon.  It is not a fast one for us, but we had a ton of fun chatting.  I was dancing for a minute until Syd told me to stop it or i'd hurt myself!! LOL!

Syd was a great sherpa, pouring ice cold sponges on my head unexpectedly!! YIKES! that is a shocker.

With about 2.5 miles to go I checked my watch to assure we'd still come in under 5 hours....and then I called him on.  I figured it is the World Championships, I should suffer some more on the run, so I told Syd he'd have to match my pace for the next 2 miles and then we'd cruise in the last half mile.  So we started to open it up a bit; not nearly a sprint, but a much more deliberate effort....it actually felt good.  And of course Syd was up to the challenge, playing the game very well...."Hey if you call me on, you better keep up"...  It was a very fun run....but a warm one:)

So as we approached the line we zipped up our ZONE 3 SPORTS tri tops (thanks Rick Hellard), unclipped on end of the tether rope, did a little fist pump and then dropped and rolled. 

Finish time:  4:53

I was lucky enough to wear bib number 179 which has great meaning to me; being the number Jon Blais (The Blazeman) wore in Kona in 2005.  That number represents his courage and all those who've fought and died from the un-winnable battle of ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). 

So another season is done, with some solid results... there are a ton of people to thank...as without their support, my racing would not be possible.

HUGE THANKS TO:

-Syd Trefiak

-Todd Wiley

-Pat McCarthy....my three guides for the year

-Jan Ditchfield, the manager of Won with One

-my wife Mindy

-my sponsors..

-ZONE 3 SPORTS

-RUDY PROJECT

-NINETEEN WETSUITS

-TEAM RUNNING FREE

-E3 CHAMPION FORMULA

-all my new found guide friends, like Jason Billows, my mother in law, Dan the Man my tandem pilot, and a bunch more:)

Here's looking to 2011 for another great race season!!