Lawrence's 2012 Ironman Canada Race Report

Lawrence Keller 2012 Ironman Canada Race Report



Well where do I begin? I guess the logical start would be when I first contemplated doing this crazy event.

way back in September of last year I began to entertain thoughts of completing an iron distance race. Note

the distinction as my first inclination was to do a Rev3 event in Ohio as I was not a big fan of the Ironman

brand name. Once I started to look into the logistics of getting there and realizing that we would be there on

our own especially my wife who would have to spend anywhere up to 17 hours on her own waiting for me

it started making less sense. In addition I have a number of friends who were already signed up in addition to

all of the TTL folks that would be there. The next step then would be to wait until the Community Fund spots

opened up and see if an entry was available. November rolled around and the fund registration slots opened up

and lo and behold spots were available. After some hemming and hawing and checking the website it became

obvious, (to me anyway), that I was destined for this race. I signed up and in January started the long and

winding training road to get me ready for this challenge.



Fast forward to race week. The first part of the week was crazy busy at work, again, trying to get all of the

items off of my plate prior to my departure. Finally was able to get away early Thursday, unfortunately not

early enough as I wasn’t able to make it in time for the ride down Yellow Lake, oh well just had to remember

what it was like from our July camp. I made it into Penticton with plenty of time go through registration

and wander around the Expo, I didn’t buy anything race related though. Then back to Peachland, where were

staying to get checked in and unpacked. I wanted to avoid the crowds by not staying in Penticton, in retrospect

this was to far away, as I missed the camaraderie and shared experience and advice of the TTL team-mates.

Then back to Penticton for the team dinner on Thursday night, huge thanks to Sarah and The Bench for a great

meal and some wonderful stories. After dinner it was back to Peachland for another restless night with what I

felt was very little actual sleep. Back to Penticton in the morning for the group swim in very choppy water which

had me very concerned as I was getting a little nauseous and very much hoping that race day would bring calm

waters. Then another drive back to Peachland where I would hang out and wait for my friends and my wife who

was driving in with a friend as she couldn’t leave with me on Thursday. They all arrived and then we were off to

the athlete’s banquet, the food was plentiful and tasty and the presentation was very well done. Then back to

Peachland for the night. After another restless night decided against going back to Penticton and did a short

swim bike run on the beach, road and pathway in front of our accommodations. Then spent the rest of the day

chillin’ and relaxing trying to stay off of my feet and getting my race nutrition ready. Had another restless night

and up well before my 3:15 a.m. alarm clock, had my pre race breakfast of a couple of bowls of cereal, an egg

wrap, a banana and a coffee, and took with me a banana, a gel and an electrolyte drink for prior to race start. On the

road by 4:30 for the drive to Penticton and found a great place to park very close to transition Collected all of our

gear; including nutrition and special needs for the bike, I didn’t have one for the run as I thought with all of the aid

stations I would just use them. I dropped everything off loaded up the bike with nutrition and waited for the race

to start. While I was waiting ran into some additional friends who were racing and just hung out with them chatting.

I saw Tracy and Tara who looked eager and ready to go, and am definitely sorry that I didn’t make the effort to

find Angie as I am sure she would have had some great advice and words of encouragement. For a change though

I wasn’t nervous but for some reason quite calm and just thought I would stay in the moment. I had the banana

and gel as per the schedule. Finally it was time to get in the water, while I was funnelling through the crowd I

saw Jacqui D and we gave each other a hug, I think; it’s a bit of a blur. I finally made it into the water and rather

than do a few strokes to warm up I just floated and practiced breathing, a little trick that Kelly taught me.







After all of these months of training and all of the anxiety the race finally started. I seeded myself on the left

towards the back as I knew my swim time wouldn’t be stellar, I thought this would be the area where I wouldn’t

be in anyone’s way. This strategy worked perfectly for me as I had open water most of the way, I even managed

to find feet for a bit of the race and even passed a couple of people. I felt remarkably calm for the swim and

had no breathing issues or tightness in the chest that I have had in past races. I think the swim a couple of weeks

prior as part of the Xterra enduro race really helped. Again I had no real issues with the swim although I did have

have some trouble locating the two Subaru buoys, went by the first one, saw the divers on the bottom, they waved

at me, so I waved back Again had a little trouble find the second Subaru buoy, even with prescription goggles

my eyesight isn’t the best, finally on my way back to shore. On the way back I finally had my first encounter

with an errant swimmer as this guy was zigzagging directly in front of me, no matter which side of him I swam

on he would work his way in front of me. With maybe less than 200 metres to go I got clocked on the side of the

head by this fellow. I guess I can’t really complain though with what can happen in a swim. I made it out

of the water at 1:44 which is essentially where I thought I would be and now into transition where I took it nice and

easy to make sure I had everything I needed for the bike. I wish I would have seen Angie as I came out of the water

as I heard from both herself and third party sources that she was, shall we say quite excited, that I made it out of

the water prior to the cut-off.



Next up, the bike. I spent about 10 minutes in transition as due to the humidity in the tent and with glasses that were

fogging up I had a little trouble seeing. I got everything together found my bike made it to the mount line and off

I went. I followed the mantra that has been drilled into all of us during the weeks leading up to the race and took

it staying in zone 2 all of the way into Osoyoos and beyond. I was passing a lot of people and got passed by some

but I just let them go and focused on racing my own race. My nutrition consisted of concentrated Infinit which

I drank about a third of a bottle an hour and some Power Bar gel blasts which I used to top up the calories. I was

having fun on Richter passing a number of people again trying to stay in zone 2. This was a little harder here

though. I had no issues on the rollers as there was no significant wind, not like there can be. Then onto the

out and back portion where I saw Tara looking strong, she was on the back; I was still on the out. I picked

my additional bike nutrition at special needs. My friend back in Peachland had given me an insulated bag they

had picked up at the dollar store that fit nicely into the special needs bag, I had put my frozen bottles into this bag

in the morning and one of them was still frozen when I picked it up. I will have to find out where they got these.

Now on to the Keremeous to Yellow Lake portion where I went into my dark period of the race, I really struggled

here and on the climb up Yellow Lake and got a bit of a leg cramp on the steep part of this climb. It was at

this point that I started thinking I might pull the pin when I got back into transition. Fortunately I was part of

a team as I started thinking, (logically or not) that I couldn’t show up to the winter spin classes as not having finished

this race for no real reason, other than a little discomfort. That is after all part of the Ironman experience.

I stopped at the Yellow Lake aid station got a couple of bottles of water, drank one and took the other one

with me and felt much better. Finally onto main street and Cherry Lane mall where I got to see and hear

Angie and here words of encouragement.



Now into transition where I changed everything I was wearing and put on some compression shorts to, hopefully,

help with cramping. Spent about 10 minutes here and then onto the run. I ran the first mile at a nice conservative

pace; unfortunately couldn’t maintain the mental focus required and started to walk, until of course I came up

to where Angie was stationed, I had to run here, as there was no real reason I couldn’t. Has a nice chat with Angie

and then out for the rest of the marathon. Again lost focus and started walking where I met up with Kelly, we

chatted for a while, she told me to get going. Kept on walking with some short run breaks thrown in and saw

some of the folks from our May bike camp at Skaha who very supportive as I was walking by.



On my way out to Okanagan Falls I saw Tracy, John, Tara, and Trevor who were all looking strong, (I didn’t

here about Trevor’s struggles until the next day). Finally reached the turnaround point and started heading back

where I met up with John B and Jacqui D who were finishing together. I chatted with them for a while but

I was feeling OK and started back running; again I kept running for awhile but then lost focus and started walking.

While on this walk break I was chatting with a fellow from Toronto who was on his 39th Ironman with one more

to go, Kona, before he was done. He said he didn’t even realize he had ridden Yellow Lake as there was no

cheering crowds urging him on, he wasn’t aware that parking tickets would be issued. Based on this I am sorry

that I didn’t get to experience the past Yellow Lake crowds. Somewhere around the return to the residential

areas I started to feel like running again and started running more than walking and again I saw a couple of the

folks from the may camp still at Skaha. I got onto main street and basically ran the rest of the way in, saw

Angie at the turnaround point and revelled in the glory that is Lakeshore Drive as you are completing an

Ironman. I took Nate’s advice from camp and enjoyed the atmosphere at the finish line. I honestly don’t

remember hearing whether Steve King announced I was an Ironman but I certainly enjoyed the finish line.

I had no issues after the race other than a little chill requiring a space blanket. I would have loved to hang

out with the team after I finished but my wife had to be out the door at 4:30 to catch a 6:30 plane to

Calgary as she had to work on Monday.



My take aways from this race were I should have stayed a lot closer to Penticton as I missed hanging with the

team and sharing experiences, feelings, and even ice cream with the group. This particular adventure would

not have ended up being successful without the guidance and gentle prodding. ha ha, of Angie. Your knowledge,

experience, and enthusiasm sure made this adventure a success for me. I have to thank you profusely for that

as well the group of like minded people who gravitate towards Team TriLife. And certainly last but not least

my lovely wife Susan who at times replaced Angie as the motivator to get my butt out the door when I didn’t

feel like getting a work out done. Thanks to you both.



My final thoughts on Ironman versus Challenge. I agree with Myles, I think it was, who stated that Ironman

is just a brand name that according to Wikipedia is owned by an equity fund that controls 30 billion in assets.

the direction that WTC seems to be going is to maximize profits rather than the athlete experience. For me

the race was about the volunteers and the people of Penticton not the Ironman brand. As an example when

I was heading into town and elderly gentleman asked me where I was from, when I told him, he thanked m

for participating. I am not done with triathlon, just iron distance ones, as Susan has signed us both up for

Oliver next year. I will be back in Penticton in 2013 as she is running the marathon portion for a team that

has just signed up to Challenge Penticton.



Thanks again Angie



Lawrence Keller