2023 Ironman Mont Tremblant - Bad GI issue!!
I finished my 2nd Ironman race at Mont Tremblant (IMMT)!
Pre-race report:
The training this year was up and down. Since the beginning of the year, I have been really busy with work as I started and led a study abroad trip to Thailand in May. After the study abroad trip ended, I stayed in Thailand for 2 months because I got a visiting professor appointment at a university in Thailand. While in Thailand, I tried to do as much as I could to keep up with the training. I brought my old bike to Thailand in order to keep training for the IM in August. The weather in Bangkok was really really hot (90F+) so I told myself it was good for heat training. The problem is I could not simulate the race terrain in Bangkok as it's very flat and riding on the road in Bangkok is very dangerous (many cyclists died from getting hit by motorcycles, trucks, or cars). There is a bike circuit around the airport in Bangkok and that's where I did all my bike training but it's still very flat. Luckily, a college friend organized a charity ride in Thailand in June and I was able to join them for part of it (see Pan Pan Kun blog post here). For the rest of my time in Bangkok, I just rode at the bike lane (by myself) :(
I returned to the US in the middle of July and immediately hit all the hills I could find in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Due to schedule conflicts, I could not join any of the Cleveland Tri Club rides. So, I mostly trained by myself. Since IMMT was an international club race this year, there were a lot of CTC folks training for the same race as me.
We left for Mont Tremblant on Thursday and made an overnight stop in Ottawa to visit U of Ottawa where I used to study for a year as an exchange student. I took P. to my favorite dessert shop in Ottawa where my friends and I used to go after every hard accounting exams.
This time we stayed at a ski resort right at the start line so things were easy for me and P. While I went to the athlete briefing, P. checked in and was waiting for me in the hotel room. In my opinion, Mont Tremblant was a GREAT venue for an Ironman. Because it's a ski area, everything is so close to each other (restaurants, start line, IM village, entertainment, etc.). The village itself is also very cute and reminds us of a town in Europe. P. really liked this race venue because they also speak French (it's in Quebec, Canada) and he liked the fact that he did not understand what they were saying to him, which made him feel like he was in a foreign country.
Friday night we went to dinner with other CTC folks. This year there were a lot of us from Cleveland Tri Club, which made it even more exciting for me.
On Saturday, I went swimming in the morning and did a short ride/run afterward before I racked the bike. It was the best decision to buy a long-sleeved wetsuit at the USAT National 2 weeks ago. The new suit fit really well and kept me warm (the water was 69F, which was perfect for a long-sleeved wetsuit).
Saw Julie and Mayra at the transition area. After I racked the bike, we went to downtown Mont Tremblant for lunch and bought some groceries. Then, we drove the bike and the run course. It was raining all day on Saturday so we were not able to do much outside.
On Saturday evening, we just stayed in the hotel room. We had a small kitchen in our room so P. cooked dinner. I had to be careful of what I ate before the race so we preferred to eat something simple on Saturday night. I also used knitting to keep my pre-race anxiety at bay.
Race day:
Because we stayed super close to the transition area, I woke up at 4am to have breakfast and coffee before going to the transition area to top up tire air and put nutrition on the bike and in the run bag. After that, I came back to the hotel room to put on the wetsuit and use the bathroom before heading to the swim start. The swim start was about 15-minute walk from the transition/hotel area. Because it was super crowded around the swim start, I stayed toward the back of the crowd. It was a rolling start so I thought it did not matter where I seeded myself anyway. All I cared about this time was to NOT panic in the water. I did not get a chance to swim in open water much this year as Bangkok is not close to any swimmable open water area.
This year they also deferred the 70.3 race to this weekend (on the same day as the IM) because of the wildfire smoke. I had to make sure that I kept swimming past the 70.3 turnaround buoy. The swim was one big loop (really nice) and it went by pretty smoothly. The water temp was perfect. It's not too crowded and I had my own space in the water. I swam past many people and all I thought to myself was "keep calm and one buoy at a time". My friend/swim mentor told me to focus on the form and the rest will follow and that's what I did. I knew I still had a long day ahead of me so I was not going to put too much effort in the swim.
The bike was 2 loops and it was really fun. I chose Mont Tremblant because 1) they announced the bike course as "rolling" (my watch said it's 5,500 ft of elevation gain) and 2) it's in Quebec. A good part of the course (about 45 km) was on Highway 117, which was deceptively flat and then at the end of each loop (around KM 70) there was a big climb up Chemin Duplessis for about 10km (6 miles) some sections were at 8% gradient. I saw some people walking their bikes up the climbs. To me, that section was hard but it's was also fun. You worked hard going up but could coast down real fast. For some miraculous reason, I got fresh legs at Mile 100 on the bike and thought that the run would be better for me this time compared to Chattanooga.
The run course was out and back for 2 loops. We ran out for 6 miles and back for another 6 miles. The first 3 miles were through another cute town and the 2nd part was on a bike and hike trail. The aid stations and support were amazing and there were people cheering on us the whole time (even in the dark). Unfortunately, I had GI distress right after coming off the bike so I ended up walking the first 20 miles in the marathon. Ugh. Everything I ate made my stomach hurt even more so I took in very few calories during the run. I stopped every medical tent to ask for Tums and it turned out that only ONE medical tent had some Tums. Mayra ran by me and after she heard that I had GI issue, she pulled out Tums from her run pack and gave them to me (I still owe you a beer, Mayra). She said she had GI issues during the race before and that's why she started carrying Tums with her, which I will start to do the same from now on. My stomach hurt more and more into the race and a staff at one of the medical tents asked if I wanted to stop or sit down. I looked at the time and thought that I had plenty of time to finish the race even though I walked the whole marathon so I kept walking. Around Mile 20, I started to release gas and suddenly felt better. So, I slowly jogged to the finish line with a smile on my face.
And that's how my 2nd IM went. It was not pretty but I finished.
Post-race report:
My host family lives near Montreal so we went to visit them and my friends on Monday before we drove home on Tuesday. It felt really good to be back in Quebec again.
Lessons learned:
1) Always carry Tums during the bike and the run from now on
2) Shit can happen no matter how well-planned you are in the race. That's why I am attracted to long races like an Ironman or an ultramarathon. It's all about problem-solving, energy management, and perseverance.
Special thanks to P. aka my #IronSherpa . This time we have established a system pre-race and during the race. He knew what I needed to eat/do before the race and that he had to collect my bike and gears while I was out on the run course. Given that he was never interested in my ultramarathons and never came to any of my ultra races, this is a big change for him (and for me). My sherpa cares about the race location (esp. food and drink) so I just have to let him pick a fun Ironman location where he wants to go. Marriage is about compromise and communication and I think we have found a happy medium :)
As of now, I think I will take a break from the Ironman next year because we will be in Portugal for 5 months and it would be too hectic to bring the bike with me and keep training for the Ironman.
s.
P.s., this is the last year that they had a full Ironman at Mont Tremblant. They will only have the 70.3 there from now on :( I am glad that I did it this year.
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