Tara's 2010 IMC Race Report

My journey to Penticton began bright and early Wednesday before the race. Kelly and I were going to Caravan to Penticton and meet at the PetroCan station on Highway 1 at 7:30. Time to go! This adventure was really going to happen. Luckily we had a fairly uneventful drive to the Okanagan. Every now and then on the drive I’d get a little stressed and emotional – however, only a few tears. We arrived in Penticton and checked into Kelly’s hotel. I was going to stay with her that evening, before packing up to stay with Leana and her parents for the duration of the race. We quickly stopped by Angie’s campground to drop off Kelly’s race plan and then we went to the grocery store and bought stuff to make dinner, hung out and then it was a fairly early night since we were meeting the team at 7:30 for a swim workout.

Luckily Kelly’s hotel was right across the street from the Sicamous. We headed out and got our wetsuits on and were ready to swim at 7:30. Tracey was the swim instructor that was leading our workout. We swam fast for the first few hundred yards, got into an easy rhythm for about 600 yards, and then swam hard for the last 200 yards. I felt really comfortable in the water. What is going on with me? Am I becoming a swimmer? After that the team headed out to Smith and Co for coffee and breakfast. After breakfast we headed towards the merchandise tent and registration. I admit it - I bought a few IMC things before the race. Then onto registration. The line-up wasn’t too bad and Kelly and I got through in about 45 minutes. From then on I was sporting my favourite new fashion accessory – my green athlete’s wristband! We headed back to Kelly’s hotel, for a quick lunch and then it was off to see Angie for our pre-race meetings. I had a really good chat with Angie. We went over my race plan and she pretty much didn’t have anything to add. She kept reminding me that patience was the key to my first IM race. As you all know, I don’t do patient very well – but I was sure going to try on Sunday.

After our meetings we headed out to meet the team to descend Yellowlake. A friend of mine lent me an areohelmet for the race. I was grateful for the opportunity to use it, but a little worried that I had never worn it before. After discussing it with Angie she told me to wear it around the hotel for a bit and ride it on the descent that afternoon. I’m sure Kelly was getting a huge kick out of me walking around her hotel room with an aerohelmet onJ. When we headed out for our ride the wind was quite bad. There were a few of us nervous about doing the ride – I’m not great at downhill’s at the best of times, but Angie convinced us that if the conditions got too bad she would call the ride. So off I went with my spiffy new (okay borrowed) aerohelmet. The ride was great. I felt so much more confident than on our long ride at training camp. Angie was at certain spots waiting down the hill to make sure we were all okay. Somewhere along the ride I looked down at my hand – and then I saw it – my green wristband - then it hit me. This was not camp, this was not a training ride, this was it. I’M ACTUALLY HERE TO DO AN IRONMAN! Wow, I began to get so excited. At the end of the ride my comment to Angie was “Are you always right?” Of course it was the correct decision to do the descent! It put me in a great frame of mind for the race. After that, Leana and I headed to West Kelowna where I was going to stay with her parents. When I arrived, her parents were fantastic. Not only did they open up their home to me and my crap (and trust me, I had lot of crap), when Leana and I arrived on Thursday night they had a delicious Salmon dinner waiting! After a fantastic meal, I went to my room (complete with my own bathroom) and settled in for the evening since we had another early morning workout the next day.

On Friday we drove into Penticton for another 7:30 OW swim. This time the workout was to try to swim with people. So Leana and I took turns drafting off on another. Again, I had a great swim. Was I using up my entire swim MoJo before the race? I certainly hope not! We then headed out for coffee and breakfast again however this time Smith and Co was much more crowded and we waited 45 minutes for our breakfast. Just as we were leaving I ran into Kendall from Mercury Rising. We have done a lot of the same races this year, and this was also her first IM. So I hugged her and wished her luck (turned out she had an AMAZING first IM race). Then back to the merchandise tent. I had decided I wanted to pick up a visor and water bottle. We hung out at the expo for awhile and listened to the pro panel. After that we headed back to Kelly’s hotel and grabbed something to eat. Then we went back to the expo to hear Lisa Bentley talk. She was great. Very inspirational (plus I got a free T-shirt for asking her a question). All of this time, I wasn’t feeling emotional or stressed. I was just very excited to be in Penticton getting ready to do my first Ironman. Luckily that feeling would stay with me for the rest of the weekend leading right up until about 45 minutes before the start of the race. Around 4:00 we headed out to the convention centre to wait in line for the athlete’s dinner. It was so awesome to see most of team there. We hung out and chatted until it was time for dinner. Alfred and I made a friendly wager about the race on Sunday J! And then it was time to eat! We had dinner and then sat through some presentations and announcements. It was very exciting when Steven King asked all the athletes to stand who were doing their first IM in Penticton. After dinner we headed out to grab some ice cream. My friends Jacque and Paul had come in from Vancouver to watch the race (and take care of my husband), and Pam had also just arrived in town, so we thought ice cream would be a good way to see everyone before the race. After that it was back to Kelowna.

The next morning, Angie was having a team workout at 7am. Leana and I decided that sleep and relaxation was a better option for us. So we had a leisurely morning and got all our stuff organized to take to the bike drop off. Leana’s dad drove us back to Penticton and helped us get all our stuff organized. I had a great volunteer who helped me rack my bike, put my T1 and T2 bags in the right place and showed me all around the transition area. I met up with Leana, we took a bunch of pictures and then headed out for some RnR to get ready for our big day (we did make a quick stop to Sumac ridge on the way back to pick up some wine though). Shortly after we arrived at Leana’s, Andrew, Jacque and Paul stopped by for a quick visit. Andrew had just flown in from Calgary and my friends had gone to pick him up at the airport. So we chatted for a while, and then they were on their way to prepare for a big day of spectating! Leana and I just relaxed and hung out for most of the day. Later that afternoon we got all our nutrition ready to go (Leana’s boyfriend commented on the amusement of an engineer and a scientist mixing up concentrated bottles of Infinit!). Mr. and Mrs. Keto, again went above and beyond as they made us a fantastic pre-race meal - my favourite – pasta with red sauce, grilled chicken and a green salad. They even provided me with my obligatory pre-race beer (sorry Angie!). For those of you who don’t know, ever since my first marathon 6 years ago, I have drank a beer the night before all my big races – so far it has worked out well for me. I didn’t want to tempt fate and skip this ritual the night before IMC! So after some more vegging out on the couch I went to bed shortly after 9 – tomorrow was IM day!

Surprisingly I slept very well on Saturday night. I woke up only 10 minutes before my alarm went off. I quickly glanced at my watch and thought – uugh, its early go back to sleep. Then – IMG – today is the day I get to race an ironman. With a bunch of excitement and nervous energy I jumped in the shower. I got changed and organized and headed upstairs. Leana’s dad had already make us coffee! I grabbed my pre-race breakfast of granola and yogurt and shortly after that we were on our way. Leana’s boyfriend drove us to Penticton. The drive was actually really relaxing. We got into town and started making our way into transition. We dropped off our special needs bags and then straight onto body marking (it was at that point Leana had to ask me how old she was J). It went by really fast. Then onto our bikes. We had pumped up our tires the day before, but there was no one in the pump line up so I decided to have the folks from the Bike Barn check my tires just in case. Yep – they were good to go. I started putting my nutrition on my bike. Oops, I forgot my honey stinger bar. The one thing I thought I should do differently during the race than I did at camp was to eat a honey stinger bar just as my HR came down after climbing Richters. Oh well, at least I knew I had one in my special needs bag. Off to the porta potty line up (which I did 3 times before getting my wetsuit on). That is when the nerves hit. I saw Cindy and she told me I looked scared. I guess at this point I was. There was girl in line who was yammering on and on about her last IM, this race, how to race, what to do etc. etc. Boy was she annoying. I just wanted to pee so I could get away from her! After that I ran into Alfred. It was 6:15. Wow. Angie said the time would go fast, but that 1 hour and 15 minutes seemed to go by at warp speed. We got on our wetsuits, dropped off our dry goods bags and headed for the beach. We were both looking for our families. Alfred spotted his, but I didn’t get a chance to see Andrew before I started. Probably for the best, I didn’t want to get too emotional. I did however see JoZ and Hope. JoZ was fantastic – what a great person to run into. She wished me luck, told me I looked happy and to remember to stay that way for the rest of the day! Great advice that I did my best to follow! Alfred and I wished each other luck and I went on to get in a quick warmup. There were rumours that the water was cold, but to me it felt fine. I got in for a few quick strokes and then I actually began to relax. Who is this person? Where is the Tara that usually freaks out before a mass swim start? Well, luckily she wasn’t around today and it was the calm Tara that showed up for the race. I saw the pros go out and then was getting excited. Here I was, just 15 minutes away from doing my first IM! I ran into Shannon and we seeded ourselves on the beach off to the left. I felt really good about my decision of where to start. Then before I knew it, we were singing O Canada, and the gun went off.

I remembered what Carla told me at GWN about her swim start with Cindy the year before. They kept walking. Seemed like a really good strategy for me. I walked until the water was chest height and then I began to swim. Since I had seeded myself in the back, there wasn’t too much kicking, punching, or body contact. Then the weirdest thing happened. I began bilateral breathing right away. For the past 2 summers, my goal has been to bilateral breath in an OW race. So far I haven’t been able to do that. I was hoping that I could on race day to make sure I was breathing aerobically and not getting too tired in the water. I told myself I would single side breath for the first 500m or so until I got comfortable and then try bilateral breathing. However, on Sunday I could breathe on both sides right from the start. I settled into a nice rhythm very early on. I also realized that I can swim much straighter when I breathe on both sides J. About ½ way to the first buoy I got jostled a bit, kicked in the face once, but all in all not too bad. A couple of times when I was feeling blocked in, I looked around and found some open water and started swimming again. I kept repeating to myself over and over – “slow is smooth, smooth is fast” (a really good rhythm when you are breathing every 3 strokes). I passed the first houseboat and waved to a scuba diver. I was still feeling okay when I passed the second houseboat. It was the swim back to shore that was the most chaotic. This surprised me because I thought people would be much more spread out. I kept getting hit and boxed in. Someone was drafting off me and felt it necessary to hit my feet with every stroke. Seriously, if you are going to draft can you at least not hit me! I tried to give a quick kick, but then I got a cramp so decided it wasn’t worth it. Every now and then I had to slow down and find some open water (which I easily could). Why is it that in an entire lake, people feel the need to swim on top of one another? Again, found a good rhythm – “slow is smooth, smooth is fast” – great words of advice. I found it much easier to site than I had at training camp and it was pretty cool watching the hotel get bigger and bigger as I getting closer! As I was coming into shore it was pretty rocky so I kept swimming for as long as I could. I stood up and started to make my way out of the water. WOW I did it. I made the swim. I glanced down at my watch 1 hour 20 minutes. WHAT. Did I start my watch at the correct time? I’m sure most of you know that I do not consider myself a swimmer. My goal when I signed up for the race in November was a 2 hours swim. I was thrilled when I got out of the water. I guess all those 9 pm swim sessions paid off. 3.8 Km swim – Check!

I was out of the water and onto the wetsuit strippers before I knew it. I must say IMC has fantastic volunteers. I was out of my wetsuit and someone was handing me my T1 bag in no time. I sat down in transition and was quite chilly. I was shivering. However a great volunteer came help me. Her name was Anne. When she came to help me and saw my race belt she said –“you’re Tara, I met your husband Andrew last night”. I had no idea who she was. She told me that she was friends with Jacque and Paul and they all met up for a BBQ the night before! Small world! She was a fantastic help. Since it was cold, I opted for arm warmers and then the usual socks and biking gloves. But because it was cold and I was wet and shivering, I had a hard time getting them on. Anne helped me get organized (literally dressing me – she even put my race belt on) handed me my helmet and off I went. I found my bike easily as it was very close to the end of the rack. I ran to the mount line and then I was onto the bike course. Transition was a little slower than I had hoped, but the arm warmers definitely ended up being the right call.
Coming out of transition was amazing. I heard Angie cheering and my only response was “I made it out of the water”. After that I saw Andrew and my friends sporting their very own green Team Tara T-shirts. Going out of town I saw a tonne of TTLers all with good wishes. It was great that so many of our teammates came into town to cheer us on! Heading out of town the goal was PATIENCE. I must have been passed by a hundred people. Every time someone passed me, I told myself “cheesy easy” – I can get them on the run. However, knowing that I could push harder it was tough to be passed by so many people. But I knew that it was going to be a long day and that I had to pace myself. Shortly after I started biking my side began to hurt. This happened to me during one of my training rides, but I never figured out what the problem was. Unfortunately the pain stayed with me for the entire ride. Luckily it was manageable and I was still able to drink my Infinit. About 5 Km in, the gadget that I had put on my bike to hold my CO2 cartridges fell off. Nothing too major, and luckily it didn’t get caught in my wheels. I stuck one CO2 tube in my bento box and the other in my spare water bottle that was holding my spare tube. The first part of the ride was pretty uneventful. I made it to MacLean Creek Road and that is where everyone starting getting really bunched up – also where it became very apparent that a lot of people don’t know how to ride up hills. Jeff warned us at training camp that people would be weaving all over the place and boy was he right. But I found my rhythm and started to climb. I made it to the top of the hill feeling pretty good. McLean Creek Road – Check. However it was after that my bike problems began. As I began to descend I tried to put my bike into its big chain ring, however it would not change. I tried to change it while I was in a number of different gears in my rear cassette, but that wasn’t helping either. After fiddling with it for a bit, I finally got it into my large chain ring but that would be short lived. I rode out to Oliver keeping my power and HR in check. I was shocked and disappointed at the drafting and pelotons I saw during this race. I had a drafting penalty at GWN (an unfair call in my opinion, but let’s not get into that) so I didn’t even want the appearance or perception of drafting during this race, plus I wanted to make sure that I rode clean. To that end, I probably under-biked this part of the course. Anytime I was passed, I dropped way back. Anytime I was getting close to someone, unless they were going way slower than I was, I decided to drop back. I didn’t want to kill my legs passing to many people. Not sure if this was the right decision or not, but it was the one I made and I have no regrets. However at some point during this stretch I went back down to my small chain ring and from then on I couldn’t figure out how to get back into the large chain ring. Nothing I did would fix my problem. I was actually pretty pleased with how I handled it. If this was my biggest challenge of the day – I could deal with it. I did keep my eyes open for tech support, but they always seemed really busy with people who needed help to actually ride their bikes. Plus, I was weighing the amount of time I’d lose without my big chain ring with how long it would take to fix my bike. In the end I just kept riding. Also during this part, my stomach started to become really painful. I knew I needed to pee and I hoped that would alleviate some of my discomfort. But as I passed a couple of aid stations, the line ups were really long. I guess I was more concerned about time than I wanted to admit. There was no way I was going to lose 10+ minutes waiting for a porta-potty. So I remembered the sage words I received from Angie and Cindy – I peed on the bike! The pain lessened but didn’t completely disappear, but at least I was feeling a bit better. In no time I was at Richter’s pass ready to climb. CHEESY EASY – that was the goal. I started climbing counting each of the “benches”. Mr and Mrs. Keto and Leana’s boyfriend were at Richter’s cheering us on – what great motivation! Before I knew it I was at the top – What the? That didn’t seem so bad. Richter’s Pass – Check. I went down the other side and onto the 7 rollers (or what I like to call the 7 dwarfs). Going downhill without my big chain was frustrating because I couldn’t get any power, however it probably made spinning up the rollers easier. Now I like to think that I am a somewhat intelligent person. With that, one would assume that I could handle counting to 7. Right? Wrong! I tried to count the rollers but quite frankly couldn’t keep them straight. Was that 3 or 4. I didn’t want to be wrong and do more than I was anticipating. However, got through them all – the 7 dwarfs – check! The ride to the out and back was long. It was long at camp and it was long during the race. Finally made it and was really excited that I could start seeing teammates. I think I saw everyone but Sarah. That was a lot of fun and looking for friends was a nice distraction. I saw Kelly and Leana and both were smiling. I got to special needs and grabbed my 4X concentrate bottle of Infinit, filled my aeorbottle with my extra 1X Infinit, took a honey stinger bar and more gu chomps. I left my spare tube and CO2 cartridge, since luckily I had not needed any yet. I continued on after special needs cheering on my teammates as I saw them. The Out and Back – check!

The ride to Yellowlake went well, but it became quite apparent that the bars and Gu chomps were making the pain in my stomach worse, so from that point on I stuck to Infinit. At the bottom of Yellowlake the wind was getting bad and it was raining. I think it was raining and windy before that, but I really don’t remember. As I started climbing I remembered the markings on the side of the road – each 0.1 Km. The top was at 17 Km. Despite the wind and the rain, this climb was much better than at camp. Andrew, Jacque and Paul were at the side of the road cheering me on. I saw and heard JoZ cheering as well. Just as I was nearing the top (in the rain), Ken and Corey rode by (who bikes up Yellowlake for fun guys?). Then I was at the top. Yellowlake – check! It’s all downhill from here! I started the descent, again getting quite frustrated that I didn’t have my big chain ring, but made the best of it. I tried to pick up speed where I could – I was a little more aggressive than at training camp, but since the roads were wet, not quite as aggressive as I was on Thursday. As I made it back into town I saw Angie at the TTL tent and everyone was there cheering. I also saw Andrew again! At this point I was looking at my watch; I was thinking I might be able to come in just under 7 hours. 180Km bike - Check

As I hit transition, one volunteer whisked my bike away and another handed me my T2 bag. I ran into the tent, changed my tri-shorts and socks, reapplied some Body glide, put on my runners, spayed myself with sunscreen, took a quick inhale of my ventolin, grabbed my gels and was off. Unfortunately I had to make a quick trip to the porta potty in transition. As I was running out onto the run course I realized I had dropped one of my gels. However I thought that 3 would get me to the run turnaround and special needs and if I really needed to I could take a power gel on the course (I prefer Gu gels). One of my goals for the race was to be out on the run, before the lead female finished. As I was beginning to run, I asked a volunteer if the female winner was in yet. I was pleased to hear that she wasn’t.

Now....Off to the run. I was so happy to be on my feet – no risk of a flat tire, mechanical problems, or drafting worries. I love to run. Angie and I had discussed a HR and pace that I should aim for in the first ½. Go slow, be patient. The run was an out and back to as I was starting out, I saw a bunch or pros finishing their marathon (including my buddy Scott Curry, Meredith Kessler, Heather Wuertele and Janelle Morrison) – boy can they run! It was quite inspiring to see. Okay – back to focussing on my own race. I saw Andrew a couple Km into the run. He was at an aide station so I was “allowed” to walk. We chatted, he asked me how I was, I gave him a quick kiss and then I was off running again. Shortly after that I saw Angie and I exclaimed “I’m running a marathon – in an ironman”. She began to run with me for a bit (no walking to talk to her- I wasn’t at an aide station), I mentioned a bit about my stomach and other bike problems but then quickly told her it was in a box behind me and I left it with my bike. Then she asked about my pace and she told me I was running too fast. I believe my comment was that I couldn’t run any slower! She also told me that the only way I wouldn’t make the cutoff time is if I cut off my leg – we were both pretty sure that wasn’t going to happen. After that we separated and I went onto to run a marathon. Surprisingly once I started to run, all my stomach problems disappeared. Unfortunately I was very well hydrated (which was a good thing) but then had to stop twice to pee on the run (which was a bad thing). My goal was to watch my pace and run the entire marathon only walking through the aide stations. I had also given myself permission to walk up any hills if my HR exceeded 150 (which didn’t happen). So I just kept running. My splits were on the faster side of what Angie and I had discussed, but still on track. For the first ½ of the run I had to work really hard to slow it down, but I kept my HR exactly where I wanted it to be, and I knew it was all about setting myself up for a great 2nd half of the run. I saw so many of my teammates on my way out to OK falls – it was great to get some encouragement and encourage them as well. I got to special needs and grabbed my other 4 gels, but left my long sleeved shirt. I didn’t want to tie it around my waist, and at that point I was hoping I could finish before it got too cold. Now all that stood between me and an IM finished was 13.1 miles. I would crawl 13.1 miles if I had too. But at this point in time I was still feeling good. I picked up my pace (just a bit). I kept focused. On the way back I started to “forget” that I was “allowed” to walk the aide stations. I would be running halfway through one and remind myself to walk and take in water. At this point I saw Kelly, Tanya, Shannon, Nola, John and Leana. Everyone was smiling and seemed to be enjoying the day. I kept running. My friend Pam was at one of the later aide stations but was only going to be volunteering until 7pm. I was worried that I would miss her, but NOPE I saw her. She was really encouraging. With 10km left I started taking chicken soup at the aide stations. Not so much because I needed it, but because I really like chicken soup. At one aide station, the soup looked identical to lemon-lime Gatorade – I told the volunteer (nicely) that I thought he had given me the wrong thing, he said “no”, I said “are you sure – it looks like Gatorade” than he told me to try it. OOPS he was right – I yelled back “never argue with a volunteer” – he laughed and wished me luck. Coming back into town was amazing; everyone was yelling my name and cheering me on. When I had 5 miles left (8Km), I almost let myself think that at the end of day I was going to be an ironman. Not yet Tara – you still have some work to do! So I continued to run. My pace and HR were increasing a bit, but all still manageable. I was still walking aide stations until I had just over 3 miles left and then decided that was just wasting my time. I ran and I smiled. I smiled and I ran. Then when I had 2 miles left, I realized that in less that ½ an hour – I was going to cross the finish line. Just before I turned onto Lakeshore drive I saw Andrew! He was cheering me on. He was also on the phone. So I had to ask “who the hell are you talking too”. He was talking to our friends Ryan and Lisa to give them a heads up that I was almost done so they could watch me cross the finish on line. As I turned down Lakeshore towards the Sicamous (yes, the cruellest finish ever to make you run 1Km away from the finish when you are mere metres away) I was feeling good. There weren’t as many people at the end of the street, but as I turned around to head back towards the finish, I heard Angie cheering and Richelle yelling “Tara Beattie!” I didn’t stop to chat, I just kept on running. I noticed to 2 guys in front of me that I was catching. I remember someone telling me it wasn’t nice to pass anyone in the finishers shoot (which I agree), so I had to make sure I passed them quickly. I did, and just kept running. I saw the blue carpet and crossed the finish line! 42.2 Km Run – Check.

Two very nice ladies caught me. I got my medal, hat and T-shirt, Corey took off my timing chip and then Trevor usurped me. The only thing I could say to him is “That was so much fun – you have to do this next year”. I don’ think I could stop smiling. Trevor stayed with me, got my photo taken and got some food. He made sure I was okay and didn’t need to go to medical. I saw Leslie-Anne, who was also catching and ran into Nate who said he a great race. Once Trevor made sure I was okay, I met up with Andrew, Jacque and Paul. Thankfully, they had gone to pick up my bike and gear bags so I didn’t have to worry about that. They also brought me a warm change of clothes and my recovery drink. We then walked down to the end of Lakeshore to meet up the rest of the TTL crew. Angie and I chatted for awhile and then she told me I had to sit down. Mr. Keto let me use his chair and Jacque went to the car to grab a sleeping bag for me. Then we cheered everyone else who was still on the course. I told Andrew that we couldn’t leave until Kelly and Leana has finished – we started this journey together, and I wasn’t leaving until they were done. We stayed until Leana finished and then headed to the campsite.

Wow – what a day. I can’t even begin to put into words how incredible the race was. I can honestly say I had fun for the entire time I was out on the course. I was thrilled with my swim, happy with my bike and ecstatic about my run. I had secret goal of running the marathon faster than my first ever stand alone marathon and I did – by 3 minutes. I even negative split the run by over 8 minutes! I guess all that patience on the bike and first ½ of the marathon really did pay off! Quite frankly I had the perfect first IM! I can’t believe that it is over. I put off writing this race report because I knew as soon as it was finished my IMC journey would be over, and quite frankly I’m not ready for it to end.

Of course there are so many thank you’s! Angie, I absolutely could not have done this without you. You are a great coach and an inspiring athlete. Thank you so much for helping me to become an Ironman. To Kelly and Leana, my training partners - I could never have gotten through all of those long bike rides and frustrating days without you (and thanks for all the times you accommodated my family’s schedule and came out to Canmore to bike) – I’m going to miss the morning string of e-mails discussing our training plans! To Shawna, for helping me learn how to swim when I could barely make it to the other end of the pool. To Jacque and Paul for coming to watch the race and take care of Andrew so I could concentrate on being an athlete for the day. To all the members of TTL – what a great journey! I’m so glad there were so many of you there that I could share the day with. Hey Alfred – where are we going for lunch? Finally, of course my family. You have been so supportive and understanding – thank you for letting me pursue this dream. What an amazing experience.
Ironman Canada 2010 – Check.