This year, 2019, was the year I decided I wanted to go back and attempt another full ironman. The first and only one was back in 2017, where I did the Ironman Mont Tremblant (IMMT) course in 13:53:43. Not bad for a first attempt, I was told.
In 2018 I wanted to focus on Ironman 70.3 races (half-irons) where I could focus on improving my bike and swim times, the areas where I felt I was weaker athletically, and then the next year go back for the full, new and improved. I was happy with my training that year, especially with my swim at Barrelman where I knocked 6min off my 2km swim time, and did the full 3.8km swim in 1h24m at the LOST swim in Aug 2018 (down from 1h33m at IMMT). Things were looking good in the water.
Late that fall (Dec 2018) I decided to upgrade my bike from my trusty Specialized Ruby road bike to a brand new TT bike, a Liv Avow Advanced Pro 2. I was more committed to aero and speed on the bike.
So far this year, I’ve had a mixed bag of results from the two races I’ve done, the Welland long course in June and the Ironman 70.3 Muskoka event in July.
Due to a cold and wet spring, I did not have many opportunities for open water swimming before Welland and both my swim times so far average 42min/2km. A few minutes below my PB of 40min. On this today I swam 43:43 down from 46:44 in 2017. An improvement from the last time I was at this event, but not my fastest. It was still early in the season, and I feel confident I can work on this in the month I have left before IMMT on Aug 18.
I was actually really happy with my bike performance at Welland. I knocked 12min off my bike time on the fast and flat course and that was a big confidence booster for me (1:55:26 down from 2:07:08). The time I was spending on my my TT bike seemed to be paying off. Happiness.
The run course was a different story. If you’ve been following my blog this year, you’ll be aware of my hip/gluteal tendinitis injury. Basically I had to take a break from running for 6 weeks after my marathon in May, which set my running ability back from my usual performance. Running has always been my strength and I personally struggled with my lack of performance despite being fully aware I was coming back form injury.
Despite the run not being what I wanted it to be, I still had a PB at Welland this year in an overall time of 4:08 (2019), versus 4:17 (2017) and 4:25 (2016) in previous years. I finished 11th in my age group, so close to a top ten finish. So overall Welland 2019 was a good event for me.
The Muskoka half was more challenging for me however. For those close to me, you know I struggle with depression and anxiety. I hide it well from others. Not from shame but from a lack of desire to constantly discuss it at times. For personal reasons, my anxiety had really flared up race weekend and I knew it was going to mess with my ability to perform on race day. That’s just the shitty luck of the draw. I don’t want to write a blog full of excuses but that was my reality that day. I choked on the swim, had to breast stroke for 3 min at the mass start before I settled into my front crawl and made up time with a 42:57min swim in the end. (In 2018 I swam 42:39, so 18sec slower this year).
I started decently on the bike, but failed to push myself on the bike to my full ability like I did in Welland where my ride rocked. There was no music playing in my head on this day, like last year when I knew I was in my groove. I just had this anxious fear of crashing. I had witnessed 2 significant spills during my ride and it got under my nerves. The bike sucked for me that day, less aero, more doubt. I only managed to pace an average speed of 26.6km/hr, while the previous year I paced 27.8km/hr.
The run went better, I felt stronger and while I suffered in the heat and hills, and still hadn’t redeveloped my full run conditioning at this point, I felt more in control of my legs and ability, and I actually enjoyed the run. I finished with a good kick passing several ladies on the last hill towards the chute and knew that my run strength was returning. More importantly, the run was completely pain free and I feel I’m now finally over the hip/gluteal tendinitis.
I ended up finishing 33rd in my AG while last year I finished 17th. It just wasn’t my day out there.
Needless to say, I have already started my more intensive run program to get my run back to where it should be with my physiotherapists blessing. In regards to my anxiety, I’m discussing that with my doctor and I’ll leave it at that.
So, triathlon training in 2019 has been a mixed bag for me. Welland went well, Muskoka not so much. But I’m taking lessons learned from both and working on controlling my anxiety better, building confidence on my kick ass, new TT bike, and rebuilding my run conditioning. My swim is good but I need more time in open water to work on the smoothness of my starts.
I still have a month to go before Ironman Mont Tremblant on Aug 18, 2019, and I am confident that with the five weeks of training I have left, I can make up the grounds that I need to put in a solid performance. I have some long sessions coming up in the next few weeks, but with the proper determination I'll get the work in I need to do to improve.
I’ve decided to look at both Welland and Muskoka as 2 really tough brick workouts leading up to the main event. I’ll be calmer, more rested, focussed and fully trained by the time I head over to Mont Tremblant.
I got this.
