Beyond my wildest predictions (and with the help of my
blazing fast wheels and calm winds and cool temperatures), I totally shattered
my goal time in an official finisher time of 10h53m09s (21minutes quicker
overall)!!
I felt like a rockstar. Friends and Family were my amazing
cheer leaders and my success wouldn’t have been accomplished without their
continued support as always. Thanks to Chris Hart for his amazing hospitality and accommodation.
This race was scenic and challenging but also very rewarding with patience. What was the key difference in this race was the connection I had with the people on the run course. I really enjoyed it. I know it’s hard to describe, but I truly felt it! It’s a weird
combination of emotional, mental and physical sensations. I was just riding the
high on the run. Proof below:
This race was scenic and challenging but also very rewarding with patience. What was the key difference in this race was the connection I had with the people on the run course. I really enjoyed it.
·
My friend Kyuwon from Toronto pointed out her
friend’s blog had a picture of me. Totally random, but check it out! I’m in the
third picture down!! http://jonchiang.com/my-first-ironman/
·
The VOWSA swims at Kits
Beach that I had regularly attended had some swimmers recognizing me at the race. Two enthusiastic swimmers even independently said to me that I had inspired them to sign
up for this race next year. Awesome to hear!
·
There was definitely a lot of “UBC” pride on
course, perhaps as indicated on my tri suit. I was surprised there were so
many random people that cheered me on!
Photo credit to a spectator Alexis Thind from Whistler! Many thanks!
·
The inspiration I got from my friend and pro racer Brendan Naef has been huge. Brendan high fived me on the run course and give me a huge boost. Considering he did M-dot Mont-Tremblant the weekend before meant that the pain I was feeling couldn't have been as bad.
All this stardom was too much for me to absorb. I just knew what I
had to do and went for it. Beast it. I knew many of my co-workers and friends from abroad
and back home would be judging relentlessly at my splits online.
·
The first split was 5 minutes quicker for the
swim. This was a set-up for a great day. I never looked back.
·
I’m not sure if my watch was off by a km or so,
but I wanted to break 6hours so bad that I just kept pushing. Each time I
passed a timing checkpoint, I rode faster to not disappoint. I got 9 minutes quicker on the bike and with a bike split of 5h53m.
·
Once I got to the run, I just rode the emotions
and ran with a huge smile. I knew I was getting a huge PB. That kept me
entertained every time I glanced at Garmin. I was 8 minutes quicker on the run
thanks to the favourable cool temperatures.
Naiely was too slow pulling out the camera!
I’d almost forgotten what a crappy swimmer I used to be (and still am but less so). Two years
ago, I was swimming 1h30m for the 3.8km swim and I never would have dreamed
swimming 1h15m was even possible. This Whistler swim course being so technical with 7 turns had lots of
body punching contact. I swam 1h15m15s, but I know I still have lots of room for improvement.
T1 was eventful. I ran into Tiffany and then Lise saw me too
and they both helped me with my wetsuit peeling. I was a bit dizzy and couldn’t
find the swim-bike bag initially until running back and forth to check my
number.
I guess sometimes you have to be good to be lucky and luck
has a funny way of rewarding you. Winds were definitely a lot calmer than I
experienced during my training rides. I flew up Callaghan Valley passing so
many riders. On the decent, I was okay with a few P5 cevelos zooming by me.
Once I got past Pemberton and into Pemberton Meadows that’s when I realized
trouble. Everyone was passing me on the flats, I was averaging about 32.8km/hr. I guess my
climbs this year has been such a focus that I failed to train for the flats. PS
– the draft packs definitely didn’t help me either as everyone passed me in
huge groups. It was a bit demoralizing, but I knew I had to save my energy for
the run.
Nutrition wise, I was happy eating just jels all day. I had
about 12 jels on the bike course (lol after I counted them all from my bento
box). It’s a smart thing I did bring half a dozen jels just because grabbing
that many jels would be a bit more challenging.
I’ve been running a lot this year and had a little curiosity
how well I would do. I really wanted it, my cardio was actually limiting me to
go quicker but I ran pretty steady throughout the marathon. My open marathon
time was 3h17m this year but my marathon split at this race was 3h38m!! I was
stunned. It just goes to show Ironman is approx. 90%
mental.
How badly do you want it?
How badly do you want it?
PS - The remainder 10% might be just genuine fear. A bear came to check out the run as well. Good thing the bear on course chose to spare me this time. http://ftw.usatoday.com/2013/08/bear-interrupts-ironman-triathlon/
Thanks for the support! Thanks for reading! Keep on truckin'! :)
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