Overview of training and race build-up I signed up for IMMT a year ago.

I had done two triathlons before signing up, and felt this would be a good year to try out the full IM distance. I had the benefit of great coaching from my brother and cousin, both experienced IM athletes with a town of knowledge to share. We all signed up for the race together, along with my Uncle Doug, and shared our training plans, challenges and successes all throughout the year. It was a great way to bring us closer together as a family and to share in our yearlong journey. All in all, I had a great year of committed IM training. I started in August, overlapping my triathlon training with my marathon training. Once I finished the Toronto marathon in October, I committed to a balanced triathlon regime. I tried to keep things simple, creating a repeatable week to base my training on: Monday: AM: Swim, stretch and core exercises (1 hour), PM: Spin/Bike (1 hour) Tuesday: AM: Run (8 12km), PM: Swim (1 hour) Wednesday: AM: S Swim, stretch and core exercises (1 hour), PM: Spin (1 hour) Thursday: AM: Run (8 12km), PM: Swim (1 hour) Friday: AM: Swim, stretch and core exercises (1 hour), PM: Spin (1 hour) Saturday: Long run (~2 hours) Sunday: Swim (1h30), Spin (1h30), with Dave over skype when I schedules coincided. The Monday to Friday more or less stayed the same, while the weekends were adapted based on the weather. From October to February, my training was largely about maintaining a consistent schedule. There were a few lapses, such as around the December holidays with pool closures and travelling. There were some work related gaps in February and March too. I tried not to let the snow and cold get in the way of my running that meant running in -30 C on a few occasions! I found it difficult to manage more than 10km in the extreme cold. Sometime on April I decided to sign up for the Montreal half-marathon to see if I could improve on my time of 1h20 from the year before. It was a great way to inject some purpose and structure into my running regime. I kept to three runs a week, with the two weekday runs being various kinds of intervals, and the Saturday run being a medium-long fast run. That was my most targeted form of training to dare: I had a goal time in mind (1h15) and based my training paces on that time. I shaved seven minutes off my time from last year and finished in 1h13. Sweet! Injury setbacks Injury #1: With race season off to a great start, I was hoping to be doing a race every other week. But then I had my first injury of the season: I got new shoes and cleats for my bike and started riding outside. At some point my right cleat loosened and I aggravated a ligament in my right ankle. I did not notice it until I tried to run the next day. That meant I could not run properly for 2 weeks. The mental impact of the injury not easy, as I had to adapt my weekly-plan. I kept going out for test runs to track the progress of the healing, and would limp home, defeated after 1-2km. I swapped my run session for strength training and the elliptical machine, which did not seem to aggravate my ankle. Then, after two weeks, my ankle cleared up. Moving on, back to the repeatable week. I was excited to get back on track. In the meantime, I had to miss two races: an early season sprint triathlon, as well as pacing for the Ottawa marathon. Injury #2: With just over a week of being uninjured, I was getting ready to head to Mont-Tremblant for an Olympic distance race. I was organizing the trip on the Friday before the race when injury number two happened: on my way home from work I got my first real door prize. I was moseying along one of the busy streets in Ottawa (Bank St.) when a car door flew open right in my face. The top corner of the door nailed my upper right chest. My right knee took a knock, too. Somehow I landed on my feet, though my bike bit the dust (and the front wheel was bent). I was immediately worried about my knee

and my chest. I had never hit my chest that hard and with such a sharp force. The first thing I thought was whether I would be able to race the next day, and perhaps in two weeks at the half-IM in Syracuse. I limped over to a near-by clinic to get checked out. The first doctor I saw said there may be some fractures, and sent me to get x-rayed at the emergency room. Off I went, sat myself down for the unknown-wait-time. While there I received an email that the swim portion of the Mont-Tremblant race was going to be cancelled because the water was too cold. I thought what the heck, just ditch the x-ray for now, head to the venue, and see what happens, maybe I can run/bike/run. Well, it turns out I could still run and bike. It was not a great race, but it was a key learning experience for me. After the race I tried to slip back into my training. Swimming was still a no-go. Running was actually getting harder. At some point I had to abandon a run because my chest was hurting too much. I realized how pretty much every movement you make revolves around your sternum! One of the hardest things was getting out of bed in the morning and sneezing was a no-go. Then came a revisit to the doctor, who this time said I had some rib fractures and should not exercise for three weeks. That was pretty devastating. He said my fitness for IMMT would take a hit. I got my prescription for physio and set up an appointment. Luckily I had a great physio who made a much more thorough assessment of my available range of motion and concluded I could still train, but just needed to avoid aggravating my chest injury. I could bike all I wanted, and could run and swim as much as the pain would allow. What a different an optimistic outlook makes. I decided I would still go to Syracuse to ride the IM course with my brother and support his race. I brought all my race gear, just in case. On the Saturday before the race, we rode the course. I felt good, and Fear of Missing Out was at an all time high. I decided to test out the swim (it had been two weeks of not being able to swim). The wet suit nicely held my chest in place and I managed a slow but bearable 400m. I thought, screw it, just do the race. Get to T1, and then I can do the bike. Then just get to T2, and try out the run. The last minute decision meant last minute preparations. It also kind of took the pressure off the race, too. I just wanted to gain more experience and enjoy the day. I had a reasonable race, all things considered. I was happy to finish in 5:06, and only be a couple of minutes behind my brother. It still took a few weeks to be able to swim with my normal Masters swim group. All in all it was 6 weeks before I could get through a swim without any chest pain. Injury # 3: Right as my chest was healing up, in came injury number 3: at the end of a long hilly ride, I started to feel some pain in my lateral left knee. I think the injury stemmed from a mix of over-use and a slightly misaligned left cleat (the screws loosened mid-ride). I eventually got some treatment in the form of Active Release Technique (ouch!) and dry needling (double ouch!). I think these treatments helped. My knee would flare up at about 20km of riding, and after making some adjustments and continuing treatment, I could get to about 60-70km before my knee would flare. I had a number of long rides planned for July which I had to abandon because of my knee. Luckily, I could still run off the bike. I was worried that I was not able to push my bike fitness further and that I might lose some of I was not able to do long rides. I was also worried that I might not be able to finish the race if my knee really flared up during the 180km bike. Pre-race My pre-race build up was a bit more stressful than I would have liked. I ended up extending my contract at work until the day before leaving for Mont-Tremblant. The last few weeks of work were pretty stressful. I did think of taking some days off in the weeks leading up to the end of my contract, but that was not possible because of my workload. Lesson learned: build in some extra time for logistics in the lead up to the race.

Getting to the venue was relatively straightforward. We had a couple of days to get ready, though between setting up the bikes with the race wheels Dave rented for us and making adjustments to breaks etc., nearly all of the time was eaten up. Lesson learned: try to get to the venue race-ready. Start making preparations weeks in advance so there is not last minute cramming of to-dos. The night before the race I had two sweet potatoes, quinoa and amaranth. Before dinner I had two beets worth of beet juice. It might have been too much beet juice, as I felt nauseous for about an hour afterward. Apparently that is the effect of the beet juice detoxifying my system. I prepped my race-day bars earlier in the day coconut, oat and date-based with green-tea lemon flavour. I had been testing out various commercial bars and my homemade ones during my training. Without fail, my homemade bars were the most enjoyable to eat and caused no digestion issues on my long rides or runs. An added benefit to making your own bars is you can cut them into the size you like. That means you can just make bite-sized bars that you can consume in one go, rather than chomping away at a big energy bar over time. Even better, you can cut the bars so that they fit perfectly into your food storage. [insert picture here] For my race-day liquids, I copied Dave and prepared four bottles with vega electrolytes, date syrup, and beet-juice powder. Two would go on my bike, and two into my special needs bag that I would get halfway through the bike. Once all that was set up, we were ready to go. Race day We woke up at 4am. For breakfast I had over-night oats and chia seeds with blueberries and banana. I sipped a bottle of beet juice mixed with electrolytes. I topped up throughout the morning with some chocolate energy bars I made the day before. We headed down to drop off our bike-nutrition and special needs bags and head to the swim start. I had to attached another innertube to my bike. We made our way to the start line time just gets eaten up in the moments leading up to the start! We did have some time for a pre-race photo shoot

They say do nothing new on race day, but I decided to use new goggles that were less tinted. That way I could see more and sight better. I tested them out just before the start, and they worked just fine. The pros were the first wave, and then my bro and I were going to set off in the second wave of 18 34 year-old males. I decided to situate myself on the outer edge so as to minimize any interactions with elbows and feet. I just wanted to start the day as uneventfully as possible. And boom, we were off! I started with a bit too much excitement finally, I was racing a full ironman! It had been a year in the making. I would never have thought that I would be doing an ironman 14 years after watching cousin Rob race Ironman Lake Placid. I pondered if the shivers up my spine where helping or hindering my swim stroke. Anyway, back to the race I loved my new goggles: I could see everything. It was stunning, with the hundreds of arms flipping through the water and a light layer of mist. I was thinking it would be nice to draft someone who was a little faster than mebut its hard to know how to find the right pair of feet to follow. Experience will help with that hopefully. I would sight every 6 12 strokes, making sure I as not too far out from the buoys. About 10 minutes into the swim some of the faster swimmers from the next wave started to over take. I thought I could hitch a ride, but I was not able to hold on. Back to my own race. The halfway turn around point was approaching. I wanted a short, clean turn-around, but because I was on the outside of the pack, it was hard to cut in and turn right at the buoys. No biggie. I had to swim a few extra meters, but it was clean swimming. On the way back I seemed to be in a group of guys in my age group all swimming the same pace (we had the same coloured swim caps). My legs started to tense up a bit, which felt strange and never happened before. At one point I threw in some exaggerated kicks to try to loosen them up a little. That seemed to work, though it did slow me down a little. I sighted the last couple of buoys and was getting excited. I had to crawl over some rocks in the last 50m or so. I was clearly too far out to the side! And just like that I was out of the water. I shook off the leg tightness with the jog to T1. I check my watch: 1h11. That was about 5 minutes slower than I was hoping for. Not disastrous, but Id have some

catch-up work to do. The longish run up to he bike was lined with crowds two to four people deep. That really got your heart rate going (just in case it was not already!). I used the opportunity to overtake a bunch of people. Why not? T1 was pretty uneventful. Socks, shoes, helmet, Go! Now where is my bike? I ran by where Daves bike was supposed to be: it was gone, so he beat me out of the swim, despite our prediction that I would be leading the Deaks out of the water. Time to go find him on the bike course! Bike 180km, two loop course. I headed out of T1 like a bat out of hell. My heart rate was pretty high, but I did not worry too much I knew it would settle eventually. My strategy was to get through the bike as quickly as possible. It is often said that ironman rookies go too hard on the bike and blow up during the bike, or during the run. I knew my knee was going to flare up some point, so for me it was a matter of covering as much ground as possible before that happened. I headed out from the village, then hit the 117 highway. I found a few riders going about the same speed. We helped each other out a bit, riding close to each other while keeping things legal. I would ride out in front, then someone would overtake and I would maintain the legal distance behind them (four bike lengths). After a couple of minutes, I would begin overtaking. While closing the gap you increasingly benefit from the drafting effect. I would then lead for the next little bit, then someone else would take over and so on. I was making good time. I got to the turn around on the 117 (about 32km into the first loop), and I saw some dude slow down to deal with a gear-changing issue. I though man, that guy should short out his equipmenthow about I overtake him while he is busy fiddling with his gears? So I didand then I hear Oh, Hey Andrew! It was Dave! Hooray! I found my bro. That was one of my favorite moments in the race. We chatted a little and then proceeded riding in a pack, changing places every now and then, again keeping things legal. I was out in front a lot, as was taking advantage of the abundance of adrenaline. I also preferred riding in front when possible so as to avoid getting stuck in the draft zone. That was great for maintaining a decent speed, but it was a bit stressful and I was burning a lot of energy fast. Dave pulled up again as we were heading back into town and we agreed to stick close for when we passed our supporters we knew theyd love to see how close we were racing. We got a great photo out of that:

We zipped through town, I absorbed the cheering and used that motivation to power up and then down the hilliest part of the course. Now for loop two. So far so good, though I knew the inevitable was going to happen soon. Tightness in my left knee started. I got my special needs bag (more of my brothers date-beet-electrolyte mix), and

braced for the rest of the day. It started to get hot. The bikers were more spread out. That was good and bad. Good because it was less stressful to always try to maintain the legal distance, and I could just ride my own race. Bad because it meant working on my own. By about 120km, my knee was properly flared. Just 60km to go! Dave overtook me for goodI was not in a position to surge to the front of the group to stay in the game. I had to let them go. At 140km, the knee was worse. Just 40 more km! Then 160 km. The furthest I had ever ridden. The knee was still working, but question marks were emerging about whether I would blow it completely and not be able to run. I shifted attention away from my knee and made sure I was making progress on my nutrition. I stayed hydrated and was eating my energy bars. Now for the last time through the town and the crowds. They were uplifting, but the cheers were less potent for me this time around. I knew the hills were going to hurt. And hurt they did. Standing on the bike is a less efficient way of riding up hills, but it would provide my knee momentary relief as I stretched out my leg. The hills on the last 20km of the course are pretty tough. Up, up, down a little, up and UP, and then back. I started coasting on the way back, as even just minimal power output from my left knee was becoming unbearable. I was hoping I did not kill my run. I was pulling into T2, and our support crew pointed out/yelled that Dave was right around the corner. I did not know what they meant, but then it became clear. He was in the penalty box, with a big smile on his face. The four minutes he gained on me were eaten up for a drafting penalty. It meant that I pulled into T2 25th in our age group, and Dave was right behind, ranked 26th. We were back on par! My bike time was 5h19.

I was worried getting off the bike. I was limping a little. Volunteers took my bike back to its rack while I put on my shoes. Lifting my foot up was painful. Uh oh. I reached into my transition bag and found a can of coconut water that Corri managed to hand off to a volunteer to put in my bag for me. In training I had practiced rehydrating off the bike with coconut water. However, I forgot to put that in my run transition bag on the big day. So that was a relief to have that. And it was also still cold what a treat! Off I went, stiff knee, coconut water in hand and a sense of relief to be off the bike. Lets see what could be done with the marathon, and whether my knee would hold up. I used the first couple of kilometers to settle into the run, averaging about 5min/km. Then I tried to just see how much I could up the pace. There were a couple of turnaround points on the run course. I saw

cousin Rob a few times and yelled go cuz! in exchange for a go androoo (imagine the Doppler effect here) he was having a good race so far! Then I saw Dave, and told him he should be able to catch me soon, as I was not able to go any faster on my knee. I downed a cup of water at each aid station, plonked one cup on my head, and fueled up on bananas and oranges and the occasional gel I stored in my pockets. The gels were less appetizing. I had about five with me, plus two commercial energy bars (a new company kronobar, who use pretty decent ingredients). I was getting good at grabbing supplies from aid stations. I would yell out water, then point to the cup I was going to grab so the volunteer would be prepared for the hand-off. All my aid station transactions where pretty smooth. The only issue I had later on was when I was bumping into people on their first loop who were traipsing through aid stations a bit like zombies. That kept me on my toes at least. I tried to have fun with the volunteers, commenting on their creative outfits, or singing along to the music being played at some of the stations. One volunteer was shouting Ice! Ice! and I duly responded Baby! Dun dun dun du du dun dun.. he did not know what I was singing a Vanilla Ice song, perhaps showing the difference in age.

I started to realize that my knee was not getting worse, which was a relief. About 21km into the run, it actually started to get better. I also found someone to run with (the guy in blue). I was pacing much of the way, but he kept surprising me by popping out in front every now and then. That was pretty motivating to have someone to run with and helped me keep things honest. We stuck together for the last 15km, though he took off in the last 3km or so. He held the pace, while I started to fade a tad. I was running out of mojo, but could not handle any more bananas or oranges. I managed to stomach a bite of a krono energy bar. I started to recognize some people in the Ottawa triathlon community. I wondered where cousin Rob was. At some point I saw I overtook him and he was walking dang! He was owning the race up until 28km of the run. Also, where was Dave? I saw him further back, also struggling. His stomach shut down at 26km. Dang x 2! Just keep movin I knew I was not able to stomach much more fuel, so I pulled out an energy bar that I planned to offload to Corri. That worked

My pace began to fade. I was not really aware where I was in my age group, or whether I was going to finish sub-10. My watch displayed my run time, but not my overall time. I knew I would be close, but I did not have the gumption to push hard for the last 10km. I headed back into town, knew the end was near, and started to pick up the pace. Lots of cheers, and as I was weaving through the people just finishing their first loop, I broke off to head toward the finishing shoot. I was on my own, and it felt glorious to have the crowds all to myself. I saw the time was 10:08, but I could not remember how many minutes were between the pro-wave and my wave. I ran a 3h23 marathon. I would later find out that I finished in 10:01:43. I am pretty happy with that time, especially considering I had dropped my expectations and hopes for a sub-10 race on an injured knee. What a relief!

I felt pretty good after the race, and waited for Rob and Dave to come in. They both had to fight a little harder than planned to reach the finish, but considering they blew up on the run, they still did amazingly.

In the finish area I chugged water, ate french fries with extra salt added, and could not bear to look at another banana or orange. Post race thoughts and feelings I felt relieved post-race. I made it to the finish, and in good time, and while I blew my knee on the bike, I dont think I totally wrecked it. Itll recover, and eventually I will find the right set up on the bike to churn out the miles without getting injured. I made a recent set of adjustments and gave my knee a long break from the bike, and I think that should do the trick. Things that went well: The swim was uneventful My energy bars and fluids were the right mix to set me up for a decent run I can bike pretty hard without killing my run My bike set-up worked well enough on the day My base-line fitness was good, despite not being able to execute my long rides for the last 6 weeks leading up to the race. Its a good lesson to learn, because it means I can build my fitness early, and then maintain it with shorter efforts One the less glorious challenges to racing long-distance: when and how to go pee. Most athletes will go during the swim. Others will also use porta-potties at aid stations or in transition zones. Some pee on the bike (while moving). Some can pee on the run. I found out and I am both little ashamed and very proud of this that I can pee where and when I want: while swimming, while on the bike, and while running. This means that I can make sure I am properly hydrated. If I am not peeing by the end of the bike, then I should start thinking about drinking more. If I am drinking too much no worries! Just let it go, man.

Things that could have been better I perhaps was overly cautious in the swim and ended up swimming more than I needed to. With the new wave starts, there is more room to do your thing. With more experience and good sighting, I should have the confidence to position myself better.

Not going into the race with a knee injury. That might have been prevented with more ART treatment mid-season, doing yoga at least twice a week, as well as a better bike set-up. The exact cause of the injury is a mystery, but I think it was a mix of over-use and possible misaligned cleats. I could have potentially stomached something more substantial during the run to keep energy and salt levels up. Something that might help with that is using the special needs station during the run. I found that when I went through the station after the first loop, I was far enough out in front that the station was not busy and I could have gotten special needs supplies without much kafuffle. Perhaps I could have had another can of coconut water, or maybe even some watermelon to pick up? Being more aware of my time and place in the race: if I knew how close I was going to be to 10 hours, I might have dug a little deeper in that last 10km to make up that 2 minutes. Then again, to have been able to do that I would probably have needed some more energy reserves.

Moving forward: While it was a tough first triathlon season for me, it was an incredibly rewarding one. I will most likely be doing more races next year. Dave and I signed up for the 70.3 in Mont-Tremblant in June, and I think I am ready to take on the full again (and get under 10!). In the past few weeks I have been recovering, but I have also missed the daily workouts and the constant supply of endorphins. just signed up for the Boston Marathon in April. I will take the time this Fall to have a more social schedule, work on strength and flexibility, and then slowly build back up in the Winter and Spring. I really did my own thing with training, sharing challenges and successes with family members through email and consulting a lot with my brother on the phone. That worked well for me, but I would also like to connect with local triathletes. Thanks to all the supporters that came out! Pada Deak, Corri, Louise and Mel, and Aunt Mary and Uncle Doug who were cheering from afar.